Introduction
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.
I. Timothy 4:1
In the last part of
this series we started looking at today's Spiritual Warfare Movement. We stated
that the vast majority of this movement's teaching has come by direct supernatural revelation from the
spirit realm. Spiritual Warfare leaders aren't simply dreaming all this stuff
up with the carnal mind. Somebody is personally teaching them these new strategies, and they in turn are
infecting the whole Church with them. We are not dealing with merely the
traditions of religious men here. We are dealing with the doctrines of demons.
We are dealing with people who are listening to seducing spirits.
If these teachings were coming from the Holy Spirit they would be supported by the written Word. Instead, we find that not only are they not supported by the Word, they directly contradict it over and over again. The authority of the Scripture in the life of the believer cannot be superseded by anything else—not by words of prophecy, not by signs and wonders, not by pragmatic "How To" manuals, not by religious experiences, and certainly not by the (supposed) spiritual authority of deluded preachers and teachers.
While it's true the Word of God is not only the written Word, but also the Word made flesh (I. John 1:1-4), and while it's true our authority in this age is Jesus the Person, not preachers and teachers (Heb. 1:1-2), and while it's also true we are to be "led by the Spirit" (Rom. 8:14), this does not give us the authority to ignore the written Word or twist it to fit our ideas and theories.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God...Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God...Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Matthew 4:4,7 & 10
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
As an example for us,
Jesus used the Scripture to rebuke Satan three times when He was tempted in the
wilderness. Moreover, we are told to follow the example of Paul and Apollos in not going beyond the written revelation of Scripture, for when we go beyond
what is written, the only yard-stick we have to
measure truth and error with is the reasoning power of the natural mind and our
own feelings.
If we want to keep
from being deceived in this hour we must submit to the Scripture in all matters
of faith and practice. Our final authority is the Bible, not preachers and
teachers. Everything ministers teach must be laid down on the anvil of God's
Word and tested (Jer.
God is faithful to His children. Sooner or later He will make us aware of the fact that these teachings are not Scriptural. At that point we will be faced with the choice of whether to accept or reject them. If our standard of judging truth is anything but God's Word—if we judge new revelations by who is teaching them, or by whether or not it sounds logical, or by whether or not it makes us feel good, or by whether or not everyone else is accepting them—we are sure to be deceived.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:31-32
I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:9
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Revelation 3:8
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Revelation 3:10
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Revelation 6:9
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Revelation 20:4
We cannot emphasize
enough just how important it is that we hold fast to the Scripture. Staying
true to God's Word is a manifestation of our loyalty to Him, and He takes notice when we hold fast
to it. It is a farce and a lie to say we are being loyal to Jesus when we pay
little attention to His Word. It is a joke to say we care about truth when we
will not judge new ideas and teachings by the Scripture, which is the only
standard that is true.
Of course, when we
say God's people must hold fast to the written Word, we are talking about more
than just reading the Bible, or making sure that the verses people are quoting
are actually there. Holding fast to the Scripture means
holding fast to a rightly divided understanding of the Bible. It means
making sure that the ideas and doctrines we are accepting—whether from
religious teachers or directly from the spirit realm—line up with the overall teaching of Scripture
(especially the New Testament) and not just with a verse here or there. By
wrongly dividing the Scripture, people have invented all kinds of false
doctrines that they think are Biblical.
We can make the Bible
say anything we want it to if we take verses out of their context or
reinterpret them to mean something other than originally intended. Every false
doctrine ever introduced into the Church has been based on the Word of God. For
instance, people who say women must remain silent in church and wear head
coverings get these ideas from Scripture. But they can only stand when isolated from the rest of
what the New Testament says.
Another example are those preaching the doctrine of Ultimate Reconciliation.
They get this idea from isolating verses which use the term
"all" from the rest of what the New Testament teaches. When Paul
said: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (I. Cor. 15:22), or that Jesus died to "reconcile all things" in earth and in heaven (Col. 1:20), the word
"all" is taken in it's narrowest and most literal sense. Since they
ignore the rest of what the New Testament has to say about eternal damnation
and man's free will, they end up deceived.
We met a man who
drifted through Delta Junction a few years back who was always quoting John 10:4-5 to prove that anyone
who was in the least bit of deception was not a true Christian. He would say:
"Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and
another's voice they will not follow. Because so-and-so believes this or that
false doctrine, they have followed another voice, which means they do not
belong to Christ because those who belong to Christ do not follow another
voice". He ignored what the rest of what the New Testament said about the
possibility of Christians being deceived.
The same is true of
today's revival leaders. You don't need to be a scholar or a super-Christian to
realize they are wrongly dividing the Word. You don't have to have a Ph.D to understand they are handling the Scripture
deceitfully. A babe in Christ should be able to catch a lot of their error
because it not only goes against the plain meaning of the verses they quote (as
well as the context of the overall passage), it
directly contradicts the rest of Scripture.
For example, any time somebody starts quoting a verse of Scripture to support the idea of a great end-time revival, we should automatically know it is error (regardless of how right it sounds) because the rest of the New Testament states just the opposite!
Over the years we have heard many Spirit-filled Christians mocking those who live by the "letter" of the Word. But when you survey the religious scene today, guess which group has been the least affected by the "new paradigm"? That's right. It's those dead letter folks; it's those "Fight'n Fundies"—and the reason is because they are much more loyal to the plain meaning of the written Word than are most Pentecostals and Charismatics.
Of course we are not
advocating Fundamentalism—these people have serious problems of their own
because in many areas they do not rightly divide the Scripture either.
Nevertheless, we should understand that the very thing that has kept
Fundamentalists from God's best has also kept them from Satan's worst, and this
spiritual warfare garbage is Satan's worst.
The average Christian
has no idea just how dangerous this stuff is. When we get involved in it, we
are doing much more than accepting false doctrines or a wrong Christian
mind-set. These warfare teachings eventually lead us into a relationship with religious demon
spirits. Accepting a false doctrine is one thing, accepting a false experience
is quite another thing.
Folks can be
delivered from doctrinal errors if they have a teachable spirit and are shown a
convincing enough argument against them. But having a spiritual experience is a
whole different ball game. Once we have established a link to a spiritual being
who talks to us and teaches us things, and gives us
all kinds of feelings and shows us lots of wonderful mysteries, brother you're
hooked! It will take a mighty miracle of God to pull you out of that kind of
deception.
An example of just
how deluded we can become if we continue to follow these religious spirits is
shown in the following report. The participants of this ritual truly believe
they have brought all the North American Indians (whether dead or alive!) to a
place of conversion.
"On August 19, the Lord gave me a word that it was time to
tell the gatekeepers to 'open up the gates.' On August 20 I went to the headwaters
of the
I felt that we were to prophesy the entire book of Joel. We felt
we were to repent of the sins committed against the Native Americans in
Indiana and as we did that I saw in my spirit the living waters begin to gush
out over the state, washing away the blood from the unrighteous battles fought
here...Repentance for this land must go back even further than when the White
man entered the land. For total healing to come it may take Native American
representatives to stand in repentance for their ancient ancestor’s choice to
separate from
I poured out the
As I prophesied Deut. 29 and 30, I had the sense in my Spirit that the whole of the Native American people, past and present were gathered in the heavenlies to be given the choice in that place that is outside of time and space, as to whether they would choose blessing or cursing, life or death. I felt that they would choose life! I sent the fire down the rivers. I opened the ancient gates...
Terry and I began to pour the water from the Mississippi into the Wabash headwaters together, asking God to send the fire, the purifying waters and to stir the healing waters….We felt that the 'Water Gate' had been opened - living waters for healing, salvation, and deliverance."
"Open Up the Gates - A Gatekeeper's Journey"
By Diane Bahler
It's clear that Mrs. Bahler was being guided by an unseen power. She says she
"felt" to do this and she "had a sense" in her spirit to do
that. It is also clear that she believes the entity that guides her is Jesus
Christ, for she said "the Lord" gave her a word to tell the
gatekeepers it's time to open the gates. When her spirit-guide let her know the
Natives would "choose life" she accepted that feeling as a reality.
Nobody will ever be
able to convince her that she has been seduced. You could quote the Scripture
till your tongue fell out, she would calmly tell you that she knows that whole
trip was real, and that it was from God, for she has had an experience. She is
not simply going on the word of some teacher or the contents of a book. Someone
is talking to her; someone is guiding her; someone is revealing all kinds of
mysteries to her; someone is producing all kinds of spiritual sensations and
feelings inside of her. That someone
is a religious demon, but she calls him God.
It would be
comforting if this kind of madness was an isolated case, but unfortunately it's
not. There are many people just like this poor woman, running around performing
all kinds of superstitious rituals on behalf of the dead. We personally know of
a man who was not even involved in the Warfare Movement, but who opened up to
these same kinds of spirits nonetheless.
He told us about an unusual
experience he had one night alone in his kitchen. He said God came to him and told him to be
baptized on behalf of his dead brother-in-law in
order to release him from Hell! Apparently his brother-in-law had been a
Christian at one time but had fallen away from the faith and had died in that
condition. Our friend—now a former friend—said he knew the man was lost when he
died and the whole situation grieved him terribly.
Satan saw an
opportunity in that grief and sent a religious spirit to this man to assure him
that he could get his dead brother-in-law out of torment by being baptized for
him. Although such an idea is both bizarre and unscriptural, the man believed
that demon because he had an experience with it, and he would not subject that
experience to the plumb-line of God's written Word.
Friends, this is the
kind of delusion we are up against today. This is the kind of deception people
are being drawn into when they go beyond what is written in Scripture.
Make no mistake about it—these new spiritual warfare teachings are deadly
poison. Not only are they blasphemy, over time they replace the Spirit of Jesus
Christ in our lives with the spirit of Antichrist. They will destroy the life
of God in us and eventually send us into the very fires of Hell!
Brother Daniel
Gatekeepers And Keys
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians 6:10-11
Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.
I. Thessalonians 3:7-8
The Scriptural
posture of the New Testament believer is a defensive one, not an offensive one.
It is not one of attacking but one of standing. Paul said we are to
"stand against" the wiles of Satan while we "stand fast" in
the Lord. The Scriptural definition of an overcomer
is not one who goes out and defeats Satan in society, but one who manages to
keep himself from being devoured by all the deception around him and the
temptations inside of him. To this end spiritual warfare is a Scriptural
endeavor.
However, today's
spiritual warfare has gone far beyond the Biblical mandate. Instead of simply resisting Satan and his demons
on a personal level, or corporately as a fellowship, spiritual warfare has
become a whole industry of pulling down strongholds, cleansing the heavens of
evil, and establishing righteousness on the earth.
Those who "stand
fast in the Lord" will maintain a Biblical world-view and will not
be drawn into this end-time delusion, for we will live in the reality that much
of the visible Church is destined to go into apostasy. We will not be following
the crowd; we will not be accepting every religious fad that comes down the
pike; and we will not be listening to world-famous ministries because the only
way they can become world-famous is if they compromise the gospel.
And at
Matthew 25:6-9
Those who maintain a
Biblical world-view will live in the reality that things are not going to get
better before the return of Jesus, but worse. They know that in the coming days
it will be all we can do to stand fast in the Lord. The story of the ten
virgins brings this unpleasant truth to light. At the time of the Lord's
coming, half the virgins who were waiting for His return had let their oil
(spiritual life) run dry. When they asked the wise virgins to share their life
with them the wise virgins said: "Not so, lest there be not enough for us
and you".
What kind of a
response is that? How selfish and uncharitable! Why wouldn't the wise virgins
share a little bit of their oil with their fellow Christians? The reason is
because it will take all the oil we have to
enter into the marriage at that time. It will take a full container of oil to
remain pure in the midst of the strong delusion that will be prevailing at the
time of the marriage. Far from being diminished, the power of Satan will be
greatly enhanced in the "evil day". The power of seduction will
become so strong, Jesus was compelled to ask: "...when the Son of man
cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).
Any idea, any
revelation, any doctrine, any mind-set, any attitude that presents a world-view
other than the one just described is a lie. This is one of the
ways you can tell whether a teaching is coming from Jesus Christ or from
Antichrist. It's one of the ways you can tell if a fellow believer is putting
on the mind of Christ or the mind of Antichrist. The Spirit of God is telling
us to prepare to stand in the evil day. The spirit of Antichrist is telling us
there won't even be an evil day, or if there is, it will not affect us that
much because the Church is going on the offensive; the Church will be going
from victory to victory; the Church will conquer the nations for God and
establish His kingdom for Him.
Far from going from
victory to victory, much of the visible Church has already been seduced and is now descending into the occult! When reading
the preceding account of Mrs. Bahler, the reader may
have noticed some strange phrases (like Water Gate and fire water), as well as
the strange ritual of pouring water on and around a rock. This is straight out
of the occult. But before we look at the occult teaching on gatekeepers, we
need to understand what is being taught inside the Church.
It is being taught
that the Church now has "gatekeeper" ministries who, among other
things, have been given the "keys of the kingdom" and the "key
of David," which enables them to open and shut spiritual portals (called
gates). Supposedly these gatekeepers can lock out evil and let in
righteousness, both in heaven and on earth.
For over 1900 years no one has considered gatekeepers to be an office in the New Testament Church. So where has this teaching come from? It's a "new paradigm" revelation. The natural, Old Testament office of gatekeeper has been spiritualized and transferred into the Church. In addition, passages in the New Testament about the key of David and the keys of the kingdom are twisted to mean something other than originally intended.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
John 10:1-3
In a particularly
obnoxious twist, the Holy Spirit (porter) in the above passage has been turned
into a representation of today's Third Wave Christians and Jesus (the shepherd)
has been turned into a representation of revival leaders. They interpret this
passage to mean that God has placed both pastors (a position) and gatekeepers
(a gift) in the Church.
"...[The] shepherd brings the sheep and then comes to the sheep fold. Here you have what is called a gatekeeper. There is a gate there. Interestingly enough it says, the gatekeeper will open the gate for the shepherd. What we have done is made gatekeeper and shepherd synonymous. But it is very clear in the Bible they are different ministries. Actually in function, one is a position and one is a gift."
"Shepherds, Gatekeepers & Walls"
Lloyd Phillips,
The meaning of Jesus' illustration is (or should be) clear. He is the Shepherd and the body of Christ is the sheepfold. The one who allows entry into the body of Christ (though salvation) is the Holy Spirit. No man comes to the Father but by Jesus, and no man comes to Jesus except he be drawn by the Father. The one who actually does the drawing is the Holy Spirit. We do not enter into eternal life unless we are admitted by the power and agency of the Holy Spirit, who is the "porter" in Jesus' illustration.
Jesus was using
common elements of the Jewish culture; sheep, sheepfold, shepherd and porter
(gatekeeper) to convey one central truth: that only through Him is there any
hope of eternal life. God has made Him the only legal guardian of the sheep and
the only way by which we can enter the sheepfold. The focus of the illustration is on the person
of Jesus.
However, this is not the meaning revivalists draw from
the illustration. They have received an interpretation much more to their
liking—and to Satan's liking as well. The focus is
taken off of Jesus as the only way to salvation and is put on the identity and
ministry of this somewhat mysterious porter. Mr. Phillips turns a function that
is the Holy Spirit's alone, into a "ministry" that can be entered
into by any Tom, Dick or Harry revivalist who takes a fancy to it. This kind of
an interpretation comes from Satan because the Scripture says the Holy Spirit
does not glorify Himself—He glorifies the Son (John
Once again you see
the blasphemy these people move in. Mere men—and deluded men at that!—are
accruing to themselves duties and responsibilities that are God's alone. Just
as they kick the Father off His throne and usurp the redemptive work of the Son
by performing their identificational repentance
ritual, so they usurp the Holy Spirit's work of drawing men to Christ and
bringing them into the
Supposedly the
gatekeeper "gift" covers a variety of activities. Cheryl McGrath of Great South Land Ministries has some teaching
that helps us understand the different aspects of the gatekeeper ministry. She
speaks of six main areas in which she sees them operating, all of which are
based on an allegorical interpretation of Scripture.
1. Spiritual guardians of localities: “many are called to be gatekeepers and watchmen over their cities and nations”
2. Leadership strategies: “the gates of a city were the place of decision making. The gates were the place the elders of the city met to consider important matters.”
3. Prophetic proclamation: “the gates of a city were
places where prophetic words were proclaimed (Jer.
4. Priests who open and close the doors of God’s
5. Guardians who hold the keys of the kingdom:
“gatekeepers were responsible for guarding the house of the Lord, and held the keys
to the Lord's house. Keys in scripture represent authority. Jesus gave us the
keys of the Kingdom (Matthew
6. Opening of spiritual portals of various kinds: “there is a sense in which the scriptures speak about gates as portals or openings into the heavenlies, as Jacob discovered. He said: ’How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!’ (Genesis 28:11-17). Not all of these gates are portals we would want to open, however! Both Job 38:17 and Psalm 9:13 speak of "gates of death". (For a fuller study on this subject see George Otis Jnr.'s "The Twilight Labyrinth.") The gates of the Lord, however, are gates of righteousness and may be entered by the righteous (Psalm 118:20).”
Of course, in many
cases these gatekeepers are the leaders of the Church. They are apostles and
prophets and pastors with spiritual authority to rule.
"To Him the doorkeeper (gatekeeper) opens. In the Bible the gatekeepers were the elders of the city. There was some respect that went with that position. They were the elders , they would sit in the gate, that's where decisions would be made for that city.”
"Shepherds, Gatekeepers & Walls"
Lloyd Phillips
Another gatekeeper
ministry, which is closely related to closing and opening the way into the
kingdom, is the ability to actually establish the kingdom. We can see this as
we look at the fifth aspect of McGrath's list—gatekeepers "hold the keys
of the kingdom". She says in the Old Testament these gatekeepers held the
keys to the "house" of the Lord and were responsible for guarding it.
Under this scenario,
the Old Testament "house of the Lord" becomes the New Testament
"
Of course, this is
basically what the Roman Catholic church teaches.
Catholic leaders believe it is their duty and privilege to establish the
kingdom on earth. Moreover, they think Jesus has given them the power to open or shut the doors
of eternal life. In their view, nobody can be saved outside the Roman Catholic
system. This idea has also produced the concept of Papal authority and the
power of the confessional. The Catholic Encyclopedia says:
"The expression 'power of the keys' is derived from the words of Christ in Matthew 16:19... Christ, by employing this expression, clearly designed to signify his intention to confer on St. Peter the supreme authority over His Church. ...Almost invariably the words of Christ are cited [in early literature] in proof of the Church's power to forgive sins."
How many people perceive that these same Roman Catholic
concepts are being transplanted into the
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock [the revelation that Jesus is Messiah] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:15-19
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 18:15-18
Please notice what
Jesus said about those who hold the keys of the kingdom. He said: "whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven. This is the only stated authority and function of those keys. The
Lord says the same thing to all His disciples as He did to Peter. He told them
they had the power to bind and loose, which means we have all been given the
keys of the kingdom.
When Jesus told Peter
he was giving him the keys, He was not talking to Peter as the head of the
Church but as a representative of the Church. The
keys belong to us all. Moreover, they have nothing to do with blind submission
and obedience to Church offices, ministers and Popes (Protestant or Catholic!).
There is no esoteric mystery about them that only exclusive end-time groups or
specially anointed ministers (gatekeepers) can understand.
At least in the case
of what was said to Peter, it's clear that the primary meaning of having these
keys is that we have the power to grant people entry into the Kingdom of
God—not by performing stupid and superstitious rituals that have their origins
in the occult—but by preaching the gospel. The keys represent the revelation
that Jesus is God's Messiah, and that salvation is by faith in Him alone. They
represent the ability to pass that understanding on to the unsaved
through anointed, personal interaction.
Another idea closely related to the idea of the gatekeeper and the keys of the kingdom is their teaching on the "key of David". The Scripture only refers to the key (singular) of David, yet you will find that revivalists often talk about gatekeepers having the keys (plural) of David. This is because they assume the key of David is identical to the keys of the kingdom.
In a May 2000 message
called The Gatekeepers, Bill Burns said:
"This church is listening to the gatekeepers who are watchmen, who can
open and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens". In another meeting he
prophesied:
"Now, let us hear the word of the Lord: Arise you who are called to be gatekeepers in the Tabernacle of David. This is the hour that you have longed for. This is the day of My power that David spoke of (Psalm 110). Now you shall carry the rod of My strength out of Zion, and you shall rule in the midst of your enemies, for to you has been given the power of binding the enemy and losing the captive...Open now your hand and receive the keys of authoritative power which I give to My servants the gatekeepers - the keys of David!”
First of all, nowhere
in Scripture are we told that the Church has been given the key of David. There
are only two verses in the entire Bible that talk about this key. One of them
is in Isaiah and the other one is in Revelation, where Jesus says He (not people who run around calling
themselves gatekeepers) has the key of David.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house.
Isaiah 22:20-25
And to the angel of the church in
Revelation 3:7
Eliakim was a real person.
As chief steward of the royal house he held the keys of power. But he is also a
type of Jesus. This becomes obvious when we look at the promises to Eliakim and compare them with the Messianic prophecies of
the Old Testament, as well as what Jesus said about himself in Revelation. The
key of David is not identical to the keys of the kingdom, which we have all
been given. This key belongs to the prophetic David (Jesus Christ) alone. He
is the only One who has come in the
line of David as heir to David's throne.
Yet Mr. Burns says
men and women who call themselves gatekeepers are to be given this key. This is
just another attempt to usurp the authority and sovereignty that belongs to
God. It's more blasphemy. It's the spirit of Satan saying: "I will ascend,
I will exalt my throne above the stars, I will be like
the most High"—and God's people are saying Amen!
Notice also that Mr.
Burns did not say the hour revivalists have longed for is coming,
or that it will soon arrive. He says it is here now—"Now you shall carry
the rod of my strength out of
Of course, if you're going to set the
These three concepts;
the gatekeepers, the keys of the kingdom, and the key of David, have been
combined to form a single teaching which supports the whole Spiritual Warfare
error. The purpose of this teaching is to cause us to join revivalists as they
attempt a global overthrow of Satan while establishing the
Gates, Gates And More
Gates
"There is authority in both realms of life as we know it: the temporal and the eternal. One is governed by the natural through civil government to keep order on earth (temporal). The higher authority is governed by the Spirit of God through His church with weapons that are not carnal, but mighty through Him."
"Knowing Your Sphere Of Authority"
Joanne Gavlick
One of duties of
today's gatekeepers is to open the gates of
righteousness. But opening the gates of heaven is only half the story when it
comes to being a gatekeeper. The other half is that they must also shut the
gates of Hell. Mrs. Joanne Gavlick is another
gatekeeper who runs her own website called Keepers Of His
Gates (www.keepersofhisgates.com). The above graphic is from the main
page of that site. She echos Peter Wagner's teaching
that God has established natural governments to set policies and execute
strategies in the visible world, but He has established the Church to set policies and
execute strategies in the invisible world. She says the "higher
authority" (heavenly realm) is governed by the Spirit "through the
Church".
One might ask: if we
have the keys of the kingdom and the key of David, if we have authority to
establish kingdom rule on earth, if the spiritual realm is governed by the
Church, why hasn't the
"Gates are symbolic of power and authority. In Scripture and throughout history, they were massive doors of the city wall, where traffic flowed in and out. They were closed to keep out the enemy...[Gatekeepers] were people stationed at the entranceway of a city. They would discern friend or foe, especially at night...The Biblical principle for gates involves more than a large door. The Hebrew word 'sha'ar' means 'gate' or 'port'. So the ports to a city held the utmost importance and authority for its people, and in turn, the gatekeepers were respected for their roles as protectors.
Gates of heaven are portals through which God's life and light enter the earth, and His judgment pronounced against the kingdom of darkness. Gates of Hell are entrance ways for the enemy to gain access. It is of utmost importance that we understand and discern both, that we may exercise our God-given power and authority to shut the gates of hell and guard the gates of heaven.
Spiritual gates are geographical regions such as towns, cities, nations; as well as rivers, lakes, oceans, and places marked by major historical events such as wars, political maneuvers, and massacres of certain tribes, clans, and races. They can be areas where major revivals took place, where God moved sovereignly and strategically, as well as geographical regions where ungodly theologies/doctrines were born. Gates are earth's portals to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of darkness, and both kingdoms have assigned gatekeepers, guarding and protecting them."
"Understanding Spiritual Gates"
According to Mrs. Gavlick, the responsibility of guarding the literal gates of literal Old
Testament cities has been transferred to the Church and spiritualized, so that
now we are talking about revivalists guarding the spiritual gates of literal
cities. She then lists what these gates represent.
First, they represent any and all "ports" into a city. That means all roads, trails, rivers, railways, airports, etc. They also represent geographical regions such as towns, cities, nations, etc. They can represent rivers, lakes and oceans. They can be places marked by historical events such as wars, political maneuvers and massacres. They can also represent areas where major revivals took place, where God moved sovereignly and strategically. They can also represent geographical regions where ungodly theologies/doctrines were born.
That's a lot of gates! Taken together, you're talking about billions (maybe trillions) of them—and they are all invisible. Mrs. Gavlick admits "the list is endless". No wonder these revivalists run around like chickens with their heads cut off. All those gates must be found, shut and guarded.
There are some very
serious problems with this teaching. First of all, there is absolutely no
support for it in the New Testament. Everything must be drawn from the
Old Testament. The only time spiritual gates are even mentioned in the New Testament
is when Jesus said the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church, and
when John described the gates of the New Jerusalem. In both instances, the
intended meaning was obvious. These gates are entry points into a specific
place—the New Jerusalem or Hell. Jesus never said anything about demons coming out through those gates
in order to control the world. John never said anything about the inhabitants
of the New Jerusalem coming
through
the twelve gates in order to influence earthlings.
There is not a shred of New Testament evidence for
thinking there are a billion different "gates of Hell"—that every
entry into a city or a town is a gate, and that each of the spots around the
globe where evil events and massacres, or erroneous doctrines and theologies,
or great revivals have taken place are gates. This idea is what's behind
various
As we have said, Old
Testament types and shadows are profitable and relevant, but they cannot contradict the teaching of the
New Testament. If they do, you are not dealing with a further revelation or
expansion of a genuine New Testament truth, but with counterfeit symbolism, which is designed to
destroy New Testament truth—and this is exactly what the whole Spiritual
Warfare Movement is based on. What? Do we think Satan is only capable of
perverting old-fashioned Baptist doctrine? Do we not realize he can easily
counterfeit the true meaning of Old Testament symbolism?
For revivalists, the symbolism of the Old Testament gatekeeper represents the ability to establish the external kingdom before the First Resurrection, before the physical return of Jesus. Such a notion is a direct contradiction of New Testament teaching and cannot be true. I don't care if every shepherd in the world teaches it and every sheep in the world believes it—it's still a lie!
Secondly, as is the
case with the rest of these errors, the gatekeeper teaching mixes the
Church with the world and the New Covenant with the Old. If you are going to
spiritualize the O.T. job of gatekeeper, you can't just spiritualize half of
it. You must transfer the whole thought. If natural gates in the O.T. represent
spiritual gates under the N.T., then natural cities in the O.T. must also
represent spiritual cities under the N.T.! Old Testament cities cannot
represent
A New Testament
gatekeeper—if there were such a ministry—would be one who watches what comes
through the gates of the Church. They would be people who had the
ability to discern whether the things that are coming into the City of God (the
Church)—be they ministers or teachings—are "friend or foe" (truth or
error). In his Summer
2000 Newsletter, Lloyd Phillips defends this mixing of the two covenants
by saying that God has often used "prophetic acts" to accomplish or
foretell something divine upon earth.
"When Elisha tossed salt into the bitter spring, the water became sweet, and it is still sweet to this day. There is nothing in the qualities of salt that would cause it to make bitter water sweet, yet that act somehow released the power of God to bring the will of God to earth.
Not every prophetic act, which God has required of His servants,
makes sense on the surface. God told Ezekiel to lay on
his left side for 390 days, and then to turn over and lay on His right side for
the same number of days. This, along with a special diet, was required of
Ezekiel due to the iniquity of the house of
Consider the prophet Isaiah who was instructed to walk naked and bare foot for three years simply to prophecy that Assyria would lead the Egyptians and the Ethiopians away as prisoners naked and barefoot (Isaiah 20). Why go through all that trouble? It seems as though it would be much simpler to write them a letter. But 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, And His thoughts than our thoughts' (Isa. 55:9)."
This sounds
convincing except for a couple of important points. For one thing, you never find Old Testament prophets turning
these acts into general warfare principles. You never see them going from city
to city repeating them. Neither will you find them telling people to start
doing the same thing.
Also, most of the time these prophetic acts were simply warnings of impending judgment. Finally, this whole argument not only ignores the teaching and examples of the New Testament, it reveals a complete lack of understanding regarding the difference between the Old and New Covenants. Where in the New Testament do you find believers being instructed to do any of the strange things Old Testament prophets did? Where in the New Testament do you find people being instructed to walk about naked, or throw salt on objects to purify them, or lay on their sides as prophetic acts?
The only
"prophetic act" recorded in the New Testament is when Agabus took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet
to symbolize what was about to happen to Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21:10‑11). However, that was
a specific act that pertained to a specific individual regarding a particular
event that was about to take place in his life. It was a warning to Paul. It had absolutely nothing
to do with spiritual warfare. Nor could it ever be applied to anyone else.
The Old Covenant is
full of types and shadows and symbolism because it was foreshadowing something
to come, something more real and lasting. You see none of this kind of thing in
the New Testament (except in Revelation) because the thing all these types and
shadows represent has come.
When you want to pick
the fruit off a tree, you don't try and pick it off of the shadow of the tree, you pick it from the actual tree. Revivalists are
mixing the shadow with the reality. They are transplanting Old Testament viewpoints, Old Testament
offices and ministries, and Old Testament symbolism into the New Testament
experience.
The law and the prophets were until John: since that time
the
Luke 16:16
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Matthew 17:1-5
The whole reason
Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to witness Him talking with
Moses and Elijah was to show them in the strongest terms that the Old Covenant
was being replaced. Moses represented the Law and Elijah represented the office
and function of the Old Testament prophet. It was so important that these
disciples got the message right, the Father Himself came on the scene and spoke
to them from a cloud!
Jesus reiterated this point when He said: "The law and the prophets were until John". When He said prophets, He meant the O.T. office and function of prophet, for that office was a major part of the Old Covenant, which has been replaced. There are no more "prophets" like Isaiah, Ezekiel or Elijah—and anyone who wants to be a prophet like them (or claims to be a prophet like them) does not understand the glory of the New Covenant.
The real reason
revivalists are always mixing the two covenants and the Church and the world in
their doctrines is because these doctrines reflect what they are trying to
achieve—which is to take possession of this present world. They are not waiting for Jesus to
come back personally and set up His kingdom. They don't want to see major
portions of this earth destroyed or turned to rubble during the Great
Tribulation and the outpouring of God's wrath. They want their cake now. They want this world just the way it
is—except with them running it of course.
Thirdly, this error makes the establishment of God's external kingdom totally dependent on the dead works of deluded revivalists. A gatekeeper must be placed at every one of those billion "gates of Hell" in order to close them. It's like trying to plug hundreds of holes in a sinking ship. They have to find these gates and shut them. Mrs. Gavlick says:
"Discerning the Lord's strategy for a city, nation, or locality is key to shutting the gates of hell. His strategy will then give access for the gates of heaven to prevail in a particular region. The Lord will gather His gatekeepers and strategically place them where the gates of hell have open access. At the point of access, He will appoint and establish His keepers to open the windows of heaven with the Key of David. The Key of David unlocks Heaven's Gates upon the earth, and brings life and light into the regions given over to death and darkness."
"Understanding Spiritual Gates"
She believes God must
place a gatekeeper at every spiritual gate on the planet in order to shut it.
Since there are billions of these gates and they are all invisible, it's no
wonder that a lot of people who think they have been called to become a
gatekeeper are having a hard time getting started in their
"ministry". In a Symposium held at their church, Marsha Burns (prophet Bill Burns' wife) had these words of encouragement
for today's gateless gatekeepers:
"I speak to those who have been called gatekeepers. Yet, you
haven't been able to find the gate or know what to do with it exactly if
you found it. You heard the call and said, 'Yes, Lord, here am
Faith Tabernacle
The best way around
the confusion that comes from thousands of potential gatekeepers who can't seem
to find their allotted gates, is to set up a "network" of
gatekeepers—much like the network of apostles and prophets now being set up.
This is precisely what Mrs. Gavlick is doing. She
says:
"I recently had a vision of a map of the
"The Wall Of Prayer"
You see, there has to
be this kind of organization when you are trying to establish God's kingdom by
the power of the flesh, or else nobody would know which gate they are responsible
for. Mrs. Gavlick is just one of many who are setting
up "Regional Networks" of gatekeepers from all over
It's important that we understand just how big this web of delusion is getting. We are not talking about just a few nuts on the fringes of Christianity. We are talking about a massive, well-organized plot inside the Church System to draw the vast majority of today's believers into this error.
It all begins very gradually. When people first step onto
this
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
The pastor will get up and say something to the effect of: "Brethren, the only way the world will believe Jesus is the Messiah, the only way we can fulfill the Great Commission and see the return of the King, is if we unite with the rest of the body of Christ. We have to stop all this petty quarreling over doctrine and Church ritual. We must have unity! Yes, we must have unity! That's the answer to our problem."
Next he will give
dozens of examples of how after years of seeing no results in their
evangelistic efforts, the churches in so-and-so's town have experienced a major
breakthrough and are now affecting the whole community and seeing hundreds of
conversions—all because they stopped worrying about doctrine and joined
together as a united witness for Christ.
It all sounds so
right, and of course it's all done with the best of intentions. But before long
you're at the other end of that
This is not just a
religious "fad" that will pass once people get bored with it. We are
at the end of this age and are witnessing Satan's final assault on the Church
of Jesus Christ, and many of us are being overcome. We are witnessing the fulfilment of David's prophetic, end-time Psalm (91) in
which he said: "A thousand shall fall at thy side,
and ten thousand at thy right hand". He was not referring to
unsaved pagans in this Psalm. Those who are falling at our "right
hand" and at our "side" are fellow believers. They are God's
people—and they are being slain spiritually on the field of battle!
The question any thinking
person should be asking is: how do these gatekeepers know when they have been
successful? How do they know when one of those gates of Hell has really been shut? How are they measuring
success or failure? After quoting Paul, where he says he will confine his
boasting to the field God had assigned to him (II. Cor
"Here, Paul states that he would not presume to go beyond the spiritual authority that God had given him. When one understands this, he or she will be very conscious of this 'appointment' given. Your assignment is given and exercised within that realm and not beyond, and the grace required for the task is automatically granted by God. Peace will rule your heart as an umpire, though the storms of life may rage. One will know if he or she has stepped beyond their appointed sphere of authority by the damage caused that may result from it...
Knowing one's boundaries is key to
knowing one's sphere of authority, for they will reveal the fruit of the
Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control (Gal.
There is an anointing that comes with your assigned sphere of authority (or authorities, for some have several). Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit for a particular assignment, we will only reap corruption. What is sown of the flesh, reaps corruption. What is sown of the Spirit, reaps life. So the fruit of one's sphere of authority, or lack thereof, will be evident if we dare choose to examine ourselves."
"Knowing Your Sphere Of Authority"
So we see that
gatekeepers don't measure success or failure by whether or not anything
actually changes in the real world. They can shut
a gate of Hell over
And how do they know
whether or not they have gone beyond their appointed authority? They will know
they have gone beyond it by any "damage caused" (whatever that
means). They will also know they have gone beyond it when they find themselves
experiencing fear, depression, confusion, fatigue or anxiety. In other words, as
long as they feel good while they perform
these rituals, they believe they are being successful. Duh!
One of the things that is so irritating about these people is the hypocritical attitude they display. While they run around practicing occult rituals, while they are drowning in a cesspool of medieval superstition, they have the gull to say those who do not agree with them are spiritually deaf. They also say we don't really love God or His truth, and that we are rejecting both God and His will when we reject the teachings and ministries of the revival.
"There is a new breed of prophetic servants, receiving a
fresh wind of the Spirit of Truth, and the Lord of Hosts is recruiting all
that have ears to hear what He is saying...Will we embrace this fresh wind
(move) of the Spirit, or will we reject it at the City Gates? This is not
rejection of man or ministry, but of God and His will. Will we demand
God to 'fit' into our mindsets and traditions, or will we choose to use the Key
of David and unlock the City Gates of Jerusalem, and ascend to
Keepers Of His Gates Home Page
So much for not "judging" your neighbor. At least we are not hypocrites! Some may think we are being too rough on revivalists, or that we have a bad attitude, but at least we are honest about what we believe. We say right up front that it is our duty as believers to judge (according to the Spirit, not the flesh) the doctrines and actions of church leaders and we have done so.
Revivalists protest
this kind of attitude vehemently. They say it is unbiblical and unchristian,
that it divides rather than unites, and that it
"tears down" rather than builds up. They don their holier-than-thou
robes and pontificate about how we should never judge each other, or say anything negative about other
believers, especially religious leaders (touch not mine anointed!), and how we
should unconditionally accept each other's behavior and doctrine.
Yet they not only look down their noses at all
who have the audacity to reject their teachings, they continually attack them
and make false accusations against them. In fact, you have never really
experienced genuine religious hostility and bigotry until you have been on the
receiving end of these people when they start spewing out their self-righteous
hatred upon those who oppose them. It soon becomes clear that the same murderous
spirit that drove the Pharisees to crucify the Lord Jesus dwells in many of
them.
Embracing The
Wrong Lord
On the
It's instructive to
consider the role of Janus in this day when we are
being told the Church has come to the threshold of a new beginning. An article
called, The Mystery of Janus - the God of Gateways, taken from a New Age/Pagan
website, reveals the following:
"Janus, the ambivalent
Indo-European deity with two faces, one on each side of the head, was one of
the earliest gods of
'On Roman monuments, Janus is shown crowned with the scepter in the right hand,
because he is king; he holds in the other hand a key which opens and closes
the epochs; this is why, by extension of this idea, the Romans consecrated
to him the doorways of houses and the gates to cities. Christ, also like the
ancient Janus, holds the royal scepter to which he is
entitled by his Heavenly Father as well as by his earthly ancestry. His other
hand holds the key to the eternal secrets, the key colored by his blood
which opens the doorway of life for lost humanity.'
To translate the Christ mystery into our own language...[it] shows us the level of consciousness we call the Cosmic Christ or Cosmic Consciousness. In the Christic Mysteries, the seeker who has reached this level of attainment is called a Son of God."
In the world of the
occult, Janus is the god of gates and gateways. He is
the god who opens and closes epochs (ages, dispensations). He is the god of new
phases or beginnings. He is the god of transition or progression from past to
future, from one condition to another, from one universe to another, or from
one type of vision ("paradigm") to another. On another New Age/Pagan
site, a man named Trevor Stewart has an article called, Some Thoughts about the Roman God Janus. He says:
"[In] Freemasonry you must have noticed the special emphasis which nearly all of [our rituals] place on doorways and on gaining entrance. Doorways, the action of entering, the associated 'knocks' and the guardians on either side, are simple metaphors for candidates' beginning a new phase of their masonic and possibly their spiritual pilgrimages...In the Classical era, Janus was commonly shown as carrying two keys, one of gold and the other of silver...he was also the god of initiation into the Greater and the Lesser 'Mysteries'."
So we see that Janus is also
the god of initiation into spiritual mysteries. His "keys" represent
gaining access to those mysteries. Funny isn't it? Today's apostles and
prophets are saying and doing the same exact thing this (demon) god does. They
say God has given them keys (power and authority) to bring about a radical
change in the Church, from the old paradigm to the new one. They think they can
use these keys to move us from one epoch to another (establish the
Where did this flood
of revelation and information about the inner workings of the spirit
realm—particularly Satan's kingdom—come from anyway? Revival leaders certainly
did not glean all this insight from the Scripture. They freely admit it has
come by direct supernatural revelation. In other words, without realizing what
has happened, they have been initiated into occult mysteries.
One of the most oft-repeated
statements you hear from revival leaders is that the Church is at the threshold
of a "new" beginning. A report on the October '99 International Gathering of Apostles and
Prophets, which was posted by Jim Wies of Cornerstone
Ministries, tells how prophet Bill Hamon explained
the significance of Peter Wagner's Third Apostolic Reformation. Mr. Wies says that Dr. Hamon began
by:
"...proposing that we are in the throws of not just 'renewal,' not just 'revival,' not just a 'new awakening,' but a 'third apostolic reformation.' The first was when Jesus appeared on the earth. Major foundational changes occurred at that time; changes in the religious structure, changes in how we relate to God, changes in the rise and fall of nations, changes in the social, economic and political climate, changes in virtually every area of significance. The apostolic and prophetic ministries were there to lay a new foundation, with Christ Jesus, of course, as the Cornerstone. This radical transition actually occurred in a span of approximately 40 to 50 years, or one generation.
Then, approximately 1,500 years later, once again there came a foundational reformation, referred to by historians as the Protestant reformation, restoring truths of Scripture that were lost during the great 'falling away', and in one generation, with Martin Luther, began a period of approximately 500 years of doctrinal restoration...
Dr. Hamon also stated that, with the birthing of the prophetic movement in 1988, he believes we began the third apostolic reformation. This is much more than just another 'movement,' a 'fresh revival' or even a 'major awakening.' We are seeing prophets and apostles coming forth for a strategic reason...We are being positioned to lay new foundations for a new era all together, foundations for the dawning of a new kingdom age. We are in the throw's of the birthing of a whole new order - a whole new dispensation"
Revival leaders see
what is happening as much more than a revival. They think it's the beginning of
a whole new era, a whole new dispensation. This is what Mr. Burns calls the Third Day. It's the paradigm
shift that is taking us (according to their view) into a whole new age. This
new order is not based on the revelation contained in Scripture, as was the
"old" order. Rather, it is based on a whole new kind of priesthood
which has laid a different foundation under the Church—a foundation that is
comprised of new revelations ("mysteries") direct from the spirit
realm. A very excited Mr. Wies continues to share the
understanding he received at this convention:
"We are preparing to move into the age of Kingdom rule and dominion where Christ Himself, and we His saints, with Him, will rule and reign in the earth. The implications of this are staggering. It means a major paradigm shift. A change again in the religious structure, changes in how we relate to God, changes in the social and economic arenas, changes of nations and the political climate, changes in virtually every area of significance, just as radically as when He came the first time. A third apostolic reformation!
So God is raising up apostles and prophets who are speaking some new and radical things; they are setting the stage; they are laying new foundations for a new era, not just patching up what is already existing but preparing the church for a new dispensation! WOW! We are about to move from the dispensation of grace to the dispensation of dominion. We are about to see Jesus, not as the suffering lamb that was slain, but the roaring Lion who is King! The implications are awesome! I believe God is about to bring insight, for instance, into the difference between the 'sin' of judgment and the 'ministry' of judgment. (A very tiny window into this was seen when Peter dealt with Ananias and Sapphira, or Paul with Elymas the magician.)
We are also about to enter into, not an age of yielding and
passive surrender to our enemies, such as 'turn the other cheek,'and
'go the second mile,' but rather, into a position of authority, dominion and
power. Ruling in
As it turns out, Mr.
Wagner's New Apostolic Reformation is much more than a reformation. It's
a new paradigm that is propelling Christians into an entirely new age, into a
new dispensation. To the dispensations of Ignorance, Law and
Grace we must now append a dispensation of "Dominion" in which everything
is radically changed. We must add an era where Christianity becomes a
completely different religion (actually repackaged Catholicism) and stops
offering forgiveness, but instead wields the sword of judgement.
Mr. Wies doesn't seem to fully understand what these Prophetic
Elders are actually teaching because he talks about the return of Christ
Himself to rule and how Jesus is coming back as a Lion and not a Lamb. He
doesn't realize that revival leaders have no intention of waiting for Jesus to
return to move us into the new dispensation. They are seeking to make the
transition themselves. This is what makes all this confusion so scary—there is
truth mixed in with the error—but the error is in the timing, and that turns
the whole program into an Antichrist counterfeit.
When Jesus comes back
He is going to come as a "Lion" and not a Lamb. When He comes back we
will participate in the judgment He carries out. When He comes back we will
enter a whole new order or dispensation. When He comes back the Sons of God
will be manifested and they will be given the thrones (territory) Satan and his
fallen angels now occupy. It's true that when Jesus comes back we will rule and
reign over this planet and over the saved nations. When Jesus come back—not
before!
You see, that little issue of timing makes a big difference as to whether we are coming forth in Christ or Antichrist. If we've got it right, we're okay. If we've got it wrong, we may be letting Antichrist "take his seat" in us and there's a chance we will wind up eternally lost when it's all over.
At the January 1999 National School of the Prophets convention, such
illustrious speakers as Peter Wagner, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Cindy Jacobs,
Bill Hamon, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Kingsley
Fletcher, Mike Bickle, Jim Laffoon,
Barbara Wentroble and Ted Haggard, all made reference
to the transition we are now in. Barbara Wentroble
spoke about the dying of the old ways:
"The Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God!...This is a season of separation - those things that were treasures in the last move are junk in the new move...We are the People of the Third Day...[the] Jordan speaks of death, and the Apostolic is holding the water aside for God's people to cross over the river. Many things are dying - old ways, practices, etc."
Chuck Pierce also
spoke about the
"I believe Exodus 19 is a 'now' word for the Body of Christ...Then the Lord said, Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and let them be ready for the third day...I believe we have entered into the 'third day' historical season of the Church."
Glory of Zion Ministries Newsletter
According to these
Apostolic Elders, we are now entering the Third Day. This is the time when the
traditions (old ways) that have been in place for nearly 2000 years—which these
people now view as "junk"—are being discarded. No longer is the
Scripture the basis for doctrine and practice. Instead, words of knowledge and
wisdom, revelations, visions and dreams are the new plumb-line by which
everything is measured. In his Shepherd's Rod paper for 1999, Bob Jones says
"truth" is not the written Word, but the Rema-word
that will be given to the apostles, and that it will be their job to re-educate
us.
"In previous years we have mentioned the preparation and emergence of the inspired priesthood to provide the Rhema word of God for this season. That order is now coming to a place of maturity and will begin to encounter the Lord in the pillar of cloud, receiving the true revelation of the Word and its application for this generation. The inspired priests will provide a sanctifying Light that will prepare the body in righteousness. Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances. There is coming the revelation of God's Truth and His Word to such a degree that the whole world will take notice as the Lord's priests present the Spoken Word in due season."
In this new day we are no longer to lean on the inspired Scripture to understand what God is doing but on an inspired priesthood. We are supposed to forget the written Word and pay attention to their spoken (Rhema) word. We must stop practicing the "old" way and the old tradition of looking to the Scripture to see what God is saying to this generation, and look instead to the revelations of the new priesthood. Not only us, but "the whole world" should sit up and take notice to what these priests speak. At a meeting in his church, Bill Burns predicted some momentous events would transpire in 1999. He says:
"The golden oil is about to flow, and the first manifestation of the Sons of His Glory is going to be candlestick light which is revelation knowledge. I will prophesy to you, '1999 will be known as the Year of His Justice.' His justice will bring both blessings and curses... Blessings will go forth for the obedient and curses for the disobedient in dramatic ways. There is going to come a mighty impartation of Christ's authority to the Sons of Glory who will demonstrate the power of His kingdom with awesome signs and wonders following."
The year 1999 must have turned out to be a real bummer for these people, even though they would probably never admit it. A lot of important spiritual events and changes were supposed to have taken place by the end of that year, but alas! they didn't materialize. The world hasn't taken notice of them, God hasn't judged their enemies (those who oppose them), we don't seem to have actually entered the Third Day yet, and nobody has been manifested (if they were, they would have been featured on TBN for a whole month).
As gatekeepers who
hold the keys to the kingdom and the key of David, these people believe they
have the authority to "establish kingdom rule on earth". Yet, nothing about
this teaching is Biblical and everything about it reflects occult paganism.
Mrs. Bahler's account of bringing all the Native
Indians to a place of conversion is an example of this. But there is more to
her story. After dealing with the Native Indians, she proceeds to prophesy judgement on the Jezebel/Queen of Heaven spirits that rule
the old paradigm churches.
"Around the obelisk were 12 pillars and I poured fire water on each pillar to symbolize the fire of judgment coming to the religious spirits that have governed the church and to symbolize the fire that is coming to God's true government - the sons of the Spirit of Elijah."
Here, in a ritual
straight out of witchcraft, this woman (who is supposed to be a believer!)
pours firewater on 12 pillars surrounding an "obelisk" in order to
call down God's judgment on Christian fellowships who refuse to accept all this Satanic garbage as Biblical
teaching! She has no hesitation in doing this because in her mind, these
fellowships are not defending Biblical Christianity,
they are fighting the new move of God. They are resisting the establishment of
God's kingdom because they are ruled by religious spirits. Notice a similar use
of natural materials (in this case rocks) in the following account of another
gatekeeper's journey:
"[The Lord said]: "Take from the river ten stones.
At the point where the two rivers come together, anoint one with salt and
the other with oil. Label the river-stones according to
the way in which the living stones were drawn by my Spirit to the Rock for
ministry. We were then urged by the Spirit of the Living God to label a
Rock as 'JESUS.' Around and on this Rock we placed the river-stones. We then sounded
the shofar, waved the battle-ax of the
Lord, and proclaimed that the Gate is open in this
"Ten Stones - Report Of A Gatekeeper"
Michael Watson, Harvest Ministry, 10/2000
In both of these
gatekeeper accounts, natural materials are associated with spiritual gates. In
the occult, gates are likewise identified with natural objects, as New Ager, Ralph C. Losey points out
on his music CD:
"The name 'GateKeeper' was taken from the Shamanic culture of the Dagara Tribe located in the heart of West Central Africa. 'Gatekeeper' is the title given by the Dagara to the Shamans who open and close the dimensional gates between alternate worlds and realities. According to Dagara cosmology there are five basic kinds of gates that a Shaman may travel through. In each dimension there are countless different worlds and realities, only some of which have been explored by man. The Gatekeepers know the five portals well, and know how to open and close the gates for their fellow shaman to enter and explore. The first worlds are lower - the microcosm - representing contact with levels of consciousness that are part of our own. Traditionally these are called the underground worlds: (1) Fire, (2) Mineral, [rocks] (3) Water/Plants, (4) Nature/Animal, and (5) the Earth itself.
"An Introduction To Gatekeepers"
From the "Gate Keeper" Music CD
In the name of
spiritual warfare, Christians are now acting as sharmanistic
gatekeepers. They may not realize the close affinity they have with their
African counterparts, or the fact that they have stumbled almost by accident on
at least one occult gate—the Water Gate.
"In addition to the following information, I'd like to add
the fact that wiccans call forth their
gatekeeper(s) through what they consider to be their major gate: Northeast,
"I Am Calling Forth My Gatekeepers"
Joanne Gavlick
Please notice that this gatekeeper realizes the occult
connection to her ministry. She says Wiccans (those
who practice a combination of witchcraft and earth worship) call forth their
gatekeepers through a portal in
When she says Wiccans call forth their gatekeepers through the
This is the kind of
delusion that is flooding the churches right now. Once people become completely
overtaken by these spirits they not only lose all sense of right and wrong,
they actually lose touch with reality. If Mrs Bahler still had a sound mind, you could take her to a
Native village and have her watch the inhabitants for a little while. She would
soon realize that her rituals didn't work. The Natives have not been converted.
The same goes for Mr.
Watson. If he still had a sound mind, he could walk through the cities of the
Spiritual Warfare proponents can write the name of Jesus on stones, or anoint rocks with salt and oil, or pour water on them and around them, or pour special water into various rivers, or blow shofars, wave battle-axes and proclaim the "gates" are open all they want to—nothing is happening! Nothing is changing, except that they are literally going insane.
You will find none of the rituals being practiced by today's warfare proponents in the New Testament. But you will find many of them in occult religions. In addition, many of the terms warfare proponents are now using did not come from Scripture, but from the world of the occult. Yet they will defend what they are doing to the bitter end because they have been seduced.
Chasing The
Wrong God
It's a typical
Saturday morning in
Now the pastors and intercessors begin to travel to the
seven gates of the city. As they do they repent at each stop for the pattern of
sin identified with that part of the city. They then drive a stake into the
ground as they pray for cleansing and revival. Finally, they serve an eviction
notice to the principalities and powers in that area and claim it for Jesus
Christ. It takes five hours in the cold
Believe it or not, back in the winter of 1997 this was
considered cutting edge Christianity. These pastors saw themselves as the
vanguard of end-time ministry. Of course, if the apostle Paul were to hop in
that van and realize what they were doing, he might ask some interesting
questions. One would have to do with the number of gates being staked out, for
there are more than seven major entry points into
What happens if you
miss a gateway or two? Are demons still able to wander in and out of your city?
How about if you get all the gateways but the demons start using helicopters
and the heliports downtown? Other questions might be: how long are these
eviction notices good for? When you evict a principality, is it banished
forever? Or do you have to come back and do periodic search and destroy
missions? And what happens if the Devil sends some rascal to dig up your
stakes? Do demons come flooding back into the city?
Maybe the reader has
never heard of Tom Baker or Mark Strong. But rest assured,
this kind of religious nonsense is not relegated to the nobodies and the
unknowns of Christianity. Pastor Tommy Tenney of
"God Chaser" fame is part of this vanguard. He not only encourages
Pastors to see themselves as gatekeepers over their cities with power to stake
a spiritual claim upon them, he has demonstrated that he practices what he
preaches.
In a major warfare
exercise, he and several other pastors staked their claim to the city of
"At a recent February meetings, at the Rock Church of
Baltimore, Tommy Tenney and Pastor Bart Pierce
explained how to secure the borders of
THE LOOPHOLE: Old
time gold miners would stake a claim. The miners would write their name on a
stake, drive it into their mountains and go to the state capital to
register their claim. This gives pastors the right to stake a claim for
Christ on their home properties or in a city. On Tuesday, February 24,
Tommy Tenney used the loophole to stake a claim in
In
The pastors who travel with intercessors and members of their church to their stake location will coordinate using cell phones and broadcast over a local Christian radio station. Over the radio station certain papers will be read, including Isaiah 62:1-9, the prayer proclamation and the stake scriptures. The prayer proclamation will be placed inside the stake. A shofar or trumpet will be sounded and the stakes driven in."
David T Jehl,
Who's making up the
rules of this game anyway? At least Mr. Tenney's
fellow revivalists make an effort to support their error by perverting the Old
Testament. He doesn't even bother to say this ritual is Scriptural. Neither
does he try to justify it by way of supernatural revelations, visions or words
of knowledge. Instead, he turns to the ways of the world for support.
He says that because:
(1) unredeemed men drive "stakes" into the ground at the borders of
the property they have "taken possession" of, and (2) because the old
gold miners would "stake a claim" by writing their names on a stake,
the Church can now do the same thing regarding towns and cities.
A description of the
stakes is as follows. Each one will be 2"x 2" Oak wood. They should
be 21" long, sanded, sharpened to a 4-point tip, and have a ½ inch wide
drill hole, 8 inches deep, at the top (to insert the prayer proclamation). You
must also have furniture button caps to seal up the holes after inserting the
proclamations. Using a thick black marker and a thin black marker you should
then print the following on the sides of each stake:
Side 1- Repentance Ps. 46:1-5, Ps.
48:1-3, Ps. 107:6-8
Side 2- Revival Is. 33:20-21, Acts
18:9-10, Is. 68:11-12
Side 3- Reconciliation Prov.
11:11, Is. 1:26, Matt. 6:18,19
Side 4- Renewal Is. 58:11-12, Ps.
68:1-11, Is. 54:2-5
Finally, you should anoint the stakes with olive oil (this also gives them a nice stained color). The staking material used by Mr. Tenney was written and developed by Pastor Frank Damazio. Mr. Jehl goes on to say:
"At one
Probably the most
absurd part of this whole account is the fact that these stakes are supposed to
represent "dying to self". Where do they get this idea from? They got
it from Webster's dictionary. One of the definitions of a stake is: "the
post to which a person is tied for execution by burning."
By this same kind of
reasoning we could say that since a stake is also quite useful for
keeping Dracula in his coffin, we should start driving them into the sides of
buildings where evil takes place—like topless nightclubs, massage parlors,
adult, occult or New Age bookstores, Masonic Temples, abortion clinics, etc—in
order to keep the evil that goes on inside these buildings from spreading
beyond the immediate territory of the property.
An important part of
"dying to self" is making sure we are not overtaken by the
spirits of delusion that are running rampant today. It's pretty hard to die to
self when our minds have become giant repositories of occult superstition!
According to Mr. Tenney, once you stake out your city, demons can no longer
travel in or out of it. Those demons that have left the city for whatever
reason are now stuck outside and those who were inside the city when the stake
out took place are stuck inside. Mr. Tenney says the
demons who are trapped inside the city can then
"be destroyed". Exactly how do you destroy a demon? How do you destroy a spirit that
lives forever?
It's hard to believe
the Church of Jesus Christ is being reduced to such a state, but unfortunately
it is. Maybe those of us who are not caught up in this folly need to start
doing some binding and loosing of our own. Maybe we should have mercy on these
poor souls and ask God to bind the demon of stupidity that has obviously overtaken them. Then we
can loose the "spirit of a sound mind" (II. Tim. 1:7), which Paul says
every true believer should have.
Mr. Tenney, who pastors a large revival church in
"Take your turn to hold the heavens open over
Tommy Tenney
Detail and Entertain, 11/98
Unlike the focus of
Mrs. Gavlick, which is searching the planet for a
billion different gates of Hell to shut, Mr. Tenney's
focus is on opening the gates of heaven
so the manifest presence of God will be revealed in the physical realm. Seeking after this presence is what Mr. Tenney's book, The God Chasers is all about. This book was an exceptionally
popular book for a number of years. Yet, it is doubtful that most of those who
read it understood what he was actually promoting.
In the book, he
relates an earlier prophecy of the late John Wimber,
which has God saying that He is "coming back to repossess the
Church". Tenney's premise is that the only thing
that hinders the Lord from bringing this prophesy to
pass is a lack of hunger for God to manifest Himself. Thus, his book is an
attempt to kindle that intense hunger in the reader to experience this manifest
presence. He repeatedly sets the Scripture in opposition to experience, and
blames Bible study for the lack of hunger in Gods people.
"God chasers have a lot in common. Primarily, they are not interested in camping out on some dusty truth known to everyone. They are after the fresh presence of the Almighty...If you’re a God chaser, you won’t be happy to simply follow God’s tracks. You will follow them until you apprehend His presence...The difference between the truth of God and revelation is very simple. Truth is where God’s been. Revelation is where God is. Truth is God’s tracks. It’s His trail, His path, but it leads to what? It leads to Him. Perhaps the masses of people are happy to know where God has been, but true God chasers are not content just to study God’s trail, His truths; they want to know Him."
Introduction
"We have studied God’s Word and His old love letters to the churches so much that some of us claim to know all about God."
Page 1
"I'm afraid that we have satiated our hunger for Him by reading old love letters from Him to the churches in the Epistles of the New Testament. These are good, Holy, and necessary, but we never have intimacy with Him..."
Page 15
"But a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with only an argument...If we can lead people into the manifest presence of God, all false theological houses of cards will tumble down."
Page 20
Like most
revivalists, Mr. Tenney skillfully (and subtly)
denigrates those who seek to hold fast to God's Word as being dry, dead
religionists who are content to "camp out on some dusty truth known to
everyone". Supposedly we are content to simply study "God's
footprints" (where he has been) because we are stuck in the past. But, he,
on the other hand, is alive and relevant. While we sit around studying God, he
is intimately and passionately involved with Him.
Mr. Tenney considers the Bible "old" Truth, which the masses are "happy to study." He calls the Epistles of the New Testament "old love letters" and says that reading and studying them can easily keep us from "intimacy" with God. Once again, the implication is that reading and studying the Scripture is nice, but in comparison to experiencing God's manifest presence, it is relegated to a secondary place of importance.
Biblical truth is
denigrated from the book’s introduction to its last chapter. According to Tenney, the Bible is where God has been. His goal is to get
beyond that to where God
is—and
he wants to bring as many of us as he can along with him to that place. Those
who aren't interested in experiencing this manifest presence are viewed by him
as completely irrelevant.
Perhaps Mr. Tenney is contrasting Fundamentalists—who often do
place the letter of the Word above the moving of the Spirit—with Pentecostals
and Charismatics who's focus
is following the Spirit. In this context, some of the comparisons he makes
between following the (letter of the) Word above the Spirit are true—but they
are only true of Fundamentalists. They certainly cannot be applied to his
fellow Pentecostals, including the ones who reject the current
"Revival" as a counterfeit.
It is dangerous to
set as opposites the study and understanding of the written Word and the power
and subjective experience of God—especially when that power or experience is
foreign to the Scripture. Both Jesus and the apostles had to deal with what we
would call Fundamentalists in their own day, but you will never find them
denigrating the Torah by calling it old truth or old love letters as they
sought to correct the problem. Indeed, you will find them constantly appealing
to the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Prophets as they seek to bring these
people to a correct understanding of the plan of God.
One problem with Mr. Tenney's thesis is that it is not Scriptural (surprise!).
Jesus never set intimacy with God, nor the power of God, over against the
knowledge of Scripture, as so many modern revivalists do. It is through the
Scripture that we come to understand what our God is like. It is through the
Scripture that we come to understand His Holiness, His ways, and what He
expects of us as His people. As we become grounded in the Word, we are then
able to rightly judge whether or not our spiritual experiences are coming from
the Holy Spirit or from another spirit.
Another big problem with his thesis is that he doesn't allow for the possibility that the manifest presence he seeks (and experiences) is a counterfeit. We certainly are not doing Fundamentalists a favor by moving them away from formalism into a lively relationship with religious spirits! That Mr. Tenney is trying to move people from boring old Bible study into some kind of awesome "God encounter" is evident by the statements he makes.
It's important that
we grasp what this man is promoting in his book, for the majority of
revivalists are blindly following his theory, even though they may not fully
understand it. His answer for everything—from being successful in evangelism,
to keeping your ministry exciting and alive, to making it impossible for us to
backslide—is experiencing this "manifest presence".
In the book, Mr. Tenney describes how he had come to the place where he was
"sick of church." After pastoring for ten
years and being on the road as a revivalist for another seventeen years, he
said: "The gnawing vacuum of emptiness in the midst of my accomplishments
just got worse. I was in a frustrating funk, a divine depression of
destiny" (Pg. 2). He felt a worsening emptiness in his soul. He was
frustrated and depressed. While in this state he spoke at a friend’s church.
During one Sunday morning service the following event occurred, which later
caused him to write The
God Chasers:
"Then he closed his Bible, gripped the edges of the pulpit with trembling hands, and said, The word of the Lord to us is to stop seeking His benefits and seek Him. We are not to seek His hands any longer, but seek His face. In that instant, I heard what sounded like a thunderclap echo through the building, and the pastor was literally picked up and thrown backward about ten feet, effectively separating him from the pulpit. When he went backward, the pulpit fell forward. The beautiful flower arrangement positioned in front of it fell to the ground, but by the time the pulpit hit the ground, it was already in two pieces. It had split into two pieced almost as if lightning had hit it! At that instant the tangible terror of the presence of God filled that room."
Page 7
Mr. Tenney immediately steps up to the microphone and says:
"In case you are not aware of it, God has just moved into this
place". How did he know the power that entered that room was the power of
God and not the power of the enemy? On the next page he describes the results
of this great event:
"Grown men were ballet dancing; little children were weeping in repentance...I watched people walk through the doors of repentance, and one after another experienced the glory and the presence of God as He came near. Then they wanted baptized....Prominent people walked up to me and stated, 'I’ve got to be baptized. Somebody tell me what to do.' They joined with the parade of the unsaved, who were now saved, provoked purely by encountering the presence of God. There was no sermon and no real song—just His Spirit that day."
Page 8
As you become
familiar with the teachings and ideas of revival leaders, you will see this same idea crop up again and again,
especially when it comes to the new sound of worship and praise that's being introduced.
Supposedly the "manifest presence" is all that is necessary to
convict people and bring them to a place of repentance. You can see it again in
the following statements:
"People don't sense God's presence at our gatherings because
it’s not there to sufficiently register on our gauges...When people get just a
little touch of God mixed with a lot of something that is not God, it
inoculates them against the real thing. Once they have been inoculated by a
crumb of God's presence, then they say, 'No, I've been there, done that...it
didn't really work for me'. The problem was that God was there alright, but not
enough of Him! There was no experience of meeting Him at the
Page 21
"We need to learn how to entertain and welcome the manifest presence of God to such a degree that just the residue of what has gone on among us brings sinners to the point of conviction and conversion instantaneously. I am hungry for that kind of expression of revival."
Page 46
Once again, according
to Mr. Tenney, this "manifest presence" is
the answer to everything, especially evangelism. Just get the sinner into a
church were the presence can be felt and he will repent. Supposedly this kind
of God encounter will even keep us from ever backsliding:
"In all my reading and study of the Bible, I have never
found any person mentioned in the Scripture who really had a 'God encounter'
and then 'backslid' and rebelled against God. Once you experience God in His
glory, you can’t turn away from Him or forget His touch. It’s not just an
argument or a doctrine; it’s an experience."
Page 35
Looks like he needs
to take a few more Seminary courses—or at least go back and re-read some of
those "old dusty truths" a little closer. I can think of four
examples off the top of my head of people who have had a "God
encounter" and then backslid to one degree or another.
How about King Saul?
He had several God encounters, and
we know how he ended up. After one of those God encounters he prophesied with
the prophets and said God had given him "another heart" (
We need to realize
just what kind of "god" Mr. Tenney is
chasing. By his own admission he is in fact chasing a supernatural manifestation of power (which he is calling
the manifest presence of God). He is not alone. When you read the newsletters
and books of revival leaders, or listen to their tapes, you will find that they
are all chasing after this same kind of manifest presence. What exactly is this
presence? Tenney defines it for the reader:
"There are also times when he concentrates the very essence of His being into what many call 'the manifest presence of God.' When this happens, there is a strong sense and awareness that God Himself has 'entered the room.'...For divine reasons, God chooses to concentrate or reveal Himself more strongly in one place than another, or more at one time than other."
Page 36-37
This concentration of
the "very essence" of God has often been manifested as a visible cloud that enters the
room. Sometimes people smell a strange perfume odor when it arrives. This is
what Tommy Tenney is calling the "manifest
presence of God". This is what he and other revival leaders are trying to
have manifested permanently by opening the right spiritual gate.
Over the years some
revival churches have had a temporary visitation of this cloud, but they are
seeking a permanent covering. Moreover, they believe this event is very near.
In a taped message by Mr. Tenney called The Glory of God, he speaks of his
longing for a permanent habitation for God on earth:
"I thank God for what He has done. I bless
What we have got to have in the church today, we must have the manifest presence of God on display for the world. We have all been in services where we have had visitations of God. I have had enough visitations. Something has to change so that we can have habitations. We must shift from momentary visitations to places of habitation where there is an indwelling glory of God in our midst and on our people.
I wonder how many times we have had a visitation of God in our services as He stood at the back door in His coat and tie, and we said 'the glory of God is here.' But too soon it escaped us because we didn't know what He was looking for. We begged Him, 'why don't you stay'? Why can't we keep these minutes? I'll tell you, it is very simple, we have not yet built the mercy seat that will hold the glory of God. There is nowhere for Him to sit...
I want to prophesy something, the church that gains the ability to build a mercy seat, when He comes, He will stay...If we build a mercy seat, the Bible says that He is enthroned in our worship, and in our praise. What happens is that God literally moves His throne from heaven. When this happens the church is building a chair, a seat, a place for God to come. We can stand and beg for Him to come all that we want, but until there is a place for Him to come to, He will visit, but He can't stay."
Mr. Tenney says God's manifest presence (the glory cloud)
cannot come to stay unless we build Him a mercy seat. Again you can see
the blasphemy these people walk in. The Hebrew term for mercy seat is kapporeth (kap‑po'‑reth),
which means "to cover". It means propitiation. Indeed, the meaning of
the Hebrew is so close to propitiation, the Greek New Testament actually uses
the equivalent of the term—hilasterion (hil‑as‑tay'‑ree‑on)—in the book of Hebrews (9:5) when referring to
the mercy seat in Moses' Tabernacle.
The same Greek term
that is used for mercy seat in Hebrews chapter nine is also applied to the Lord
in Romans
3:25,
where it says God has set forth Jesus "to be a
propitiation [mercy seat] through faith in his blood, for the remission
of sins that are past". In other words, the Father has already built Himself a
mercy seat, and His name is Jesus! The Spirit of God is not telling anyone to
build Him another one, for if we do, we will only be building it for
Antichrist—and that is exactly what Satan is leading these revivalists to do.
But this is not the
worst of it. Antichrist is going to do more than merely "sit" in the
mercy seat these people are building. He is going to "overshadow"
them. The following is Todd Dawson's firsthand account of the meeting held on
"[Tommy] said we are in the year of Jubilee, and that God isn't going to let a generation go by without letting them see his glory at least once. Hence the outpouring of his Spirit at this time. He said that when Gabriel was giving Mary the news about the birth of the Christ, he had no words to describe it--he just said some 'thing' is going to come...That's what he [Tommy] believes is happening right now...some thing is going to come...God wants to draw us under his wings so he can 'overshadow' us."
Mr. Tenney says some thing—not some one—is "going to
come" and "overshadow" revivalists just like the Holy Spirit
came upon Mary and overshadowed her. That "thing" is the glory cloud.
It's the manifest presence. He is waiting for an invisible entity to manifest
itself and overshadow revivalists. This is what today's "God Chasers"
are chasing. To them, this is
what it means to be a God Chaser. They have no idea that the thing they are waiting for is not God!
Summoning The
Wrong King
A particularly
troubling aspect of this gatekeeper ministry, as we have already mentioned, is that
one of the gates revivalists are trying to open is the one through which (in
their view) the "King of Glory" will eventually come. As we saw in
Tommy Tenney's last quote, their King of Glory is not
necessarily the same as our King of Glory. We are waiting for the return of
Christ the Person. They are waiting
for the glory of Christ or an
overwhelming presence of Christ to return.
Big difference!
This whole idea is
not simply coming from the carnal minds of these revival leaders. They are
being instructed to prepare the way for "the glory" just like they
are being instructed in all the rest of the things they are doing. The question
is: which lord is going to come through that portal?
"God chaser Tommy Tenney said, 'His presence just keeps getting deeper and deeper, He just keeps coming in. Open the door to His presence...We are holding the door open for Him, be a living door stop. Angels are going in and out to minister in the city.'"
Report of
"'Open up the Ancient Gates,' I heard from behind me as two strong hands grabbed my shoulders as he shook me and laughed. 'The tabernacle will be restored. A holy priesthood shall be established that serves the King of Glory on his mountain and in his pavilion. A royal priesthood anointed and separated and commissioned in their service. All nations will bow before the king of glory who shall enter through the ancient gates. The king of glory who is mighty in battle. Who comes in righteousness with a sword to judge his servants and to make war upon the nations. Faithful and true is the king of glory.'"
Bob Neuman
"This is what the Lord, the Creator, the Holy One of Israel says: 'Gatekeepers! Rise up and Go! OPEN UP THE GATES! OPEN UP THE GATES THAT THE KING OF GLORY MAY COME IN! I have given you the keys to the Kingdom and what you open in My Name no one can shut! OPEN UP THE GATES! Open up the gates to your cities, to your regions, to your nations, to your hearts! OPEN UP THE GATES! Open the gates because I will not be held back any longer! I am about to come as a pent up flood! The waters are about to break forth. The rain is about to pour. These are as the days of Noah - open the gates that all who will may run into the ark of my Presence.'"
Diane Bahler
It should be obvious that we cannot
call forth or arrange for the return of the Lord. Jesus is not stuck in heaven,
waiting for someone to "open the gates" so He can return. His return
is not dependent on anything we do, but on the Father's original
plan of redemption—a plan that was established before the world began (Acts
But beyond this error there is the more
serious issue of trying to bring back Christ as an irresistible power or
presence or cloud instead of Christ the Person. Notice how Tommy Tenney told his congregation to open the door to His
presence, and the way Mrs. Bahler describes
the coming of the King—like a flood. This is not a reference to the way a
person comes, but rather to the way a presence or a cloud comes. Bill Burns has
much to say in this regard:
"I send you forth to rebuild My temple. I ask you a question. Is it not written that the glory of the latter temple shall be greater even than Solomon's temple? If it is written, you can have it. You can be that temple of glory that walks forth in righteousness. You can be that temple of fire that comes forth under the anointing of the Holy One. You can be the temple where the Shekinah glory dwells. You can be where I am in manifestation, where I dwell over the mercy seat of your heart, and extend salvation to those that come your way."
"The glory of the King will so rest upon His latter days' temple that a visible presence of the Shekinah glory of Almighty God will be upon His Sons of Glory, and the world itself will witness the Kingdom of God in manifestation. Come now, let us return to the Lord; let us be found under His cloud, for it is indeed moving. Arise, you Sons of Glory, for the light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you! Now is the time of the restoration of all things. Now is the hour of His visitation. Even so, come Lord Jesus!"
"He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, and the veil has been rent, and open is the way into the Holy of Holies. Those who enter into the Holy of Holies will be brought into the resurrection power of third-day ministry...It is during the third-day ministry that the manifest presence of the sons of glory, those who have entered into the Holy of Holies, will be in evidence upon this earth. The Father's glory will be visible on His sons and daughters, the fire and cloud of His glory will be found upon those who have been brought to the ark of the covenant."
Faith Tabernacle Prophecies from 1999
Notice that the emphasis is not on
the Person of Jesus in these prophesies, but on a "cloud of glory" or
a "manifest presence" that will reside externally on and around the
physical bodies of believers.
"God is not going to stand between you and me, but He will come and His glory will be around us to protect us and He always comes in a cloud...In the Old Testament He said, "I want a temple so I can dwell among My people. But Paul said in Corinthians, 'He wants a temple now where He can dwell in His people.' He is bringing forth His church of glory...He is repairing the breeches and raising up the walls, preparing a holy habitation for His Shekinah glory."
"Shepherds, Gatekeepers & Walls"
Lloyd Phillips
"For The Cloud of My Glory is moving towards the Earth - Is moving Towards you my people. My gatekeepers - Open The Gates - Swing Wide The Gates - For into your hands I have given The Keys of Life. …Yes the Cloud of Presence is moving towards the earth - Is moving towards you my people. Prepare a Habitation unto the Lord - Make your house ready for I AM Coming to inhabit you my people."
Dave Howe -
According to Mr.
Howe, what is it that's moving towards the earth? It's not the Person of Jesus,
but rather the cloud of His glory and the cloud of His presence. We are to
"swing wide the gates" so His cloud of presence can come to us and
"inhabit" us. This is the overshadowing Mr. Tenney
was referring to. In the previous prophesy we are told the Lord's glory will be
around us. We are also told to "prepare a holy habitation for" the Shekinah glory.
Of course there is
nothing unscriptural about the idea that God can (and has) manifested Himself
in a literal cloud. It was a
literal cloud that hovered over the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. It was a
literal cloud that filled Solomon's
The manifestation of
God in a cloud is strictly an Old Covenant phenomena which was made unnecessary after the Holy Spirit
was given on the Day of Pentecost. The last appearance of the cloud was on the
The reason is simple.
The purpose of the glory cloud
was to bring God's presence close to His people. It was a "sign" that
God was with them to protect them and lead them. This is precisely the task of
the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit who makes God's presence real to us. It's the
Spirit that leads us and protects us. There is no need for Him to come to us
externally as a glory cloud when He is living inside of us! This is the
"new and living way" the writer of Hebrews talked about (Heb.
Under the Old
Covenant, God was on the outside of man and
manifested Himself in various external ways, such as the Burning Bush, the
Angel of the Lord and the Glory Cloud. Under the New Covenant, God is on the inside
of man through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But revivalists are not
satisfied with what God has provided under the New Covenant—even though the
writer says it is "better"—because they want a sensual Christianity
where they can feel God in their bodies. They want a
Hollywood-style Christianity filled with lots of action, loud music,
fancy cars, flashing lights, head rushes and celebrity-status ministries. They
want a faith where power is the focus, not
Jesus or the Cross. That's what they want and that's what God has given them!
Revivalists don't
seem to realize that the physical, bodily return of the Lord is subtly being
replaced in their minds with the idea that only the glory and/or presence of
Jesus is returning to cover and indwell the (new paradigm) Church. They expect
this visible glory to come
on them
and hover around them like some Star Wars
movie. They think it will make them immortal and that after it has come, the
nations will finally submit to the authority of the Church.
Moreover, there is a
fear that the glory will not come if the gatekeepers can't open the gates
between heaven and earth sufficiently enough.
God has put such an urgency in my heart; we need to be in-line by the end of this summer or we could really miss what is about to happen. At best, individuals will be stumbled and miss out on what He is about to do. At worst, there won't be enough of us praying in unity, (that critical mass), for an open heaven and lasting victory.
A word through Deborah Kerekes
Notice how this
revivalist talks about reaching a "critical mass"—a term that used to
only be associated with New Agers.
Failing to achieve a critical mass for New Agers has
always meant failing to get a high enough percentage of people to agree with
one concept in order to affect the Global Consciousness of mankind and change
the course of history and evolution. So why would Christians start using this
term? Why would they incorporate the New Age concept that if enough of us pray
the same thing "in unity" we can get whatever we are praying for? Why
do they think they can "open" the gates of heaven and affect the
return of the glory? Why doesn't the fact that the very function of Christian
gatekeepers is a mirror image of the function of occult gatekeepers
worry them? Why doesn't the fact that spirit-guides are actually called
gatekeepers by those in the occult, affect revivalists in the least?
Could it be that for over 1700 years the sheep have been trained like dumb beasts to "submit to spiritual authority" and "touch not" God's anointed? Could it be that the sheep have been trained to "obey" those who have the "rule over" them so well that when these hallowed, uncorrectable church leaders go into error, the sheep obediently (and blindly) follow them and start seeking all the wrong things?
In October 2001,
Cheryl McGrath hosted the first Australian Intercessors' Forum Summit in
"Various worship leaders and teams ensured that worship
continued from
Intercession flowed freely with worship during the
Two people I know well and whose credibility I can vouch for reported seeing the glory cloud at the same time, yet independent of one another, during one of the worship sessions. One of our workshop leaders reported becoming aware of a beautiful fragrance wafting past him as he lay face down on the floor worshiping. (He looked up to see if someone had perhaps walked past him wearing strong perfume, but there was no-one that he could see)."
"Report On First A.I.F. Summit"
Cheryl McGrath
If this kind of
physical appearance is really God coming on the scene, then those of us who are
denouncing it will be in spiritual trouble when we stand before the Lord. But
if we are right, something dreadful is happening to the Church of Jesus Christ!
Here you have a conference of Christians who have come together to seek the Lord and intercede for
a lost and dying world, and instead of God being there, another spirit (who
apparently wears perfume!) shows up and manifests itself. Moreover, Christian worship is credited for
playing a key role in the arrival of this apparition!
At the 1996 Heart Of David: Worship and Warfare conference, hosted by Rick Joyner,
"an intense burning like a nuclear fire" appeared on the stage and
two women who were part of the worship team were petrified. Describing their
reaction, Mr. Joyner says he never saw "such a look of terror on the faces
of anyone...Christine started pulling at her clothes as if she were on fire,
and Susy dove behind the drums." Another report
tells how the room in which revival leader Jill Austin was preaching became
like a giant "womb" as the manifest presence of God began to be felt:
"As Jill was preaching on the glory and the cross, the atmosphere in the room changed. It began to feel like the whole room was 'pregnant' with God and became a womb...The intensity was heightened and a depth of God was evident as the atmosphere literally became alive and thick with the presence of the Lord. It was as if Jesus was almost visible and walking throughout the room. The anointing was a living, breathing, vibrant, deep, and tangible entity. Suddenly people began receiving gold teeth and fillings as well as physical healings!"
Rivermail Bulletin Board Report
Revivalists are
seeking to open spiritual gates and punch holes in the heavens in order to
establish a direct link between the physical and the spiritual realm. Extended
times of worship are often the key to piercing the heavens. Many times a very
real spiritual being (which revivalists
assume to be God) has come through these holes and manifested itself as
lightning, or nuclear fire, or a perfumed cloud, and even as a giant womb.
The ability to open
the heavens, or walk under an open heaven, is viewed as a very important skill
in revival circles these days. Once they have punched a hole in the heavens,
all kinds of things can happen. An open heaven brings revival, spiritual power
and authority, and paves the way for all kinds of awesome manifestations in
revival meetings. Indeed, those who do not have an open heaven are seen
as falling behind in their dedication and will not be able to participate in
the next move. From a revival prophecy entitled Glory or Terror we read:
"Prepare! For the day is coming when those who have not already established an open heaven above them will not be able to do so...And what, you ask, is an 'open heaven'? An open heaven is the spiritual atmosphere produced when the veil of your flesh that separates the natural realm from the spiritual realm, is rent in two thus allowing free interchange between the spiritual realm and the natural realm. Those walking with an 'open heaven' shall be able to receive supernatural provision for the whole man - body, soul and spirit. Whereas those whose heavens are brassed over will not..."
If all this activity is occultism, if these apparitions are not the true God, what's the purpose of their appearances? Where is all this going? It is preparing Christians to receive the soon-coming, global manifestation of a false, New Age Christ—a Christ that is a presence and not a person.
"What the orthodox theologian and the narrow doctrinaire have to offer no longer satisfies the intelligent seeker or suffices to answer his questions. He is shifting his allegiances into wider and more spiritual areas. He is moving out from under doctrinal authority and coming under the direct personal authority which contact with Christ and His disciples, the masters, gives"
Alice Bailey
The above quote from
New Age Theosophist and channeler Alice Bailey
describes perfectly the "paradigm shift" that has taken place in so
many churches around the world. Bailey started receiving her revelations from a
spiritual entity named "Djwhal Khul" in the 1930's. She wrote everything she was
receiving down on paper and in 1957 made it into a book—Externalization Of The
Hierarchy—from which the above quote is taken.
How could this woman
have predicted so precisely the direction the Church would take over 40 years before
it happened? The answer is simple. The same spirit who predicted the coming
shift, fulfilled it's own word by deceiving certain
key religious leaders. Once these men were seduced, a large portion of the
Church automatically followed them into the same deception because the sheep always follow their shepherds blindly. Thus, revivalists, whether they realize it or not, are walking in
the New Age agenda.
Indeed, the parallel
between what New Agers are attempting to do and what
revivalists are attempting to do is astounding. The more you learn about what
New Agers call "The Plan", the more you
understand that the revival is a mirror image of their concepts and ideas.
Listen to the words of another New Age channeler:
"Today marks the beginning of a new era for Humanity...To those of you who have waited for so long to see the changes with your human eyes, you will begin to look around and see the entrance of a new level of awareness as well as its expression taking form in this world. We will try to give you a picture to work with here to assist you in practicing to use the doorways....the doorways to the Higher Realms.
It will not be an easy time for those of you who have chosen to walk the Path in this epoch. It will seem as if there is nothing left to call familiar. Ride out this time and you will be greatly rewarded...The day of what you view as a personal path is over. There is but One Path, the Path of Unity to one end - the Awakening and joining together of the Sons of God, as you are known by many...In the time that will become known as the end times you will see many wonders and miracles. You will see the sick heal themselves in an instant. You will see an end of all disease of the physical body. This will be accomplished partly through the use of the doorways by those of you who have elected to participate in the end times in such a way...There will be but a small number of you who will be awake in the times we now speak of. This is why many of you feel so isolated now."
Channeled by Julie Presson, 1987
If the apostle Paul
would walk into a revival church today there indeed would be nothing left for
him to "call familiar". Even if a Pentecostal from the early 1900's
walked into one of these churches he would feel the same way, for they would
see Christians "practicing to use doorways" (gates) in order to
exercise spiritual authority over the earth and reach "higher spiritual realms".
They would also hear virtually all revival leaders talking about the
"beginning of a new era" and how we are moving to "new levels of
[spiritual] awareness".
They would see many
"wonders and miracles" that would be totally foreign to them. They
would see people obsessed with finding "the path of unity" and with
the "joining together of the Sons of God". They would hear revival
leaders talk about how only a "small number" (a remnant) will be
capable of making the radical shift from the old to the new paradigm.
But if a New Ager walked into these same churches, chances are he would
feel right at home. Chances are he would instantly be in tune with everything
that is going on because not only is the "new paradigm" a mirror
image of his own world view, the spirit he is following is the very same spirit
they are following.
Rebuilding The
Wrong Temple
"Understanding Amos 9 is key to our future. We are seeing a great move of God to restore the Tabernacle of David in the earth. In each historical season this occurs. It was prophesied in Amos. We saw it happen in Acts. And now we will see this happen again in this new millennium. Prayer and praise in every region is key in the Church's future."
Chuck Peirce
-
Ministry Newsletter
"The restoration of David's Tabernacle as prophesied in Amos 9:12 and Acts 15:16-18 shall come forth resulting in authentic 24 hour Houses of Prayer, Praise, Worship and Intercession sprinkled across the nations. New creative songs and sounds shall emerge as it was with the radical ministry of William and Catherine Booth s Salvation Army Bands. Praise once again, will not be confined to the four walls of the church but will spill out into the open-air arena."
"Paradigm Shifts For The 21st Century"
Jim W. Goll - May, 2000
One of the topics
that has been dominating the revival scene for a
number of years now is the restoration of David's Tabernacle. Various teachings
have been drawn from the symbolism of this tabernacle—the most familiar of
which is, that it represents a restoration of various kinds of prayer
(especially prophetic and warfare prayer), as well as a special kind of praise
and worship. Each part of David's
Tabernacle is spiritualized and applied to some
aspect of the restored and glorified Church on earth. When Mr. Peirce said he wants to see "prayer and praise in
every region" he was not talking about what we understand as prayer and
praise. He is talking about the same thing Mr. Goll
is referring to—24-hour houses of prayer.
Restored prophet Mick
Bickle, who was once better known for his involvement
with the Kansas City Prophets in the late 80's and early 90's, has been
somewhat of a pioneer in this whole area. His Harp and Bowl ministry has
launched one of these 24-hour houses of worship. It is called the International House Of
Prayer
(IHOP). On his website he defines the concept this way:
"[IHOP] is a 24-hour, citywide, inter-denominational prayer
ministry serving the body of Christ in the
This new ministry
involves continuous warfare prayer, "Davidic" dancing, worship and
praise, antiphonal chanting of the psalms, and the "prophetic"
singing of passages of Scripture. It is designed to bring down the presence of
God in a new way and create an atmosphere for revival and world evangelization.
Great emphasis is placed on especially anointed musicians, some of whom are
(supposedly) so anointed they can literally prophesy through their instruments
while playing them.
But there is another
level of teaching regarding this restoration that is missed by those who do not
pay close attention to what is being said. According to Third Wave leaders,
David's Tabernacle is also symbolic of a
restored end-time temple where God will dwell in glory upon the (spiritual)
Prophet Bill Burns is
a big promoter of this concept. In one section of his Website, called Words In Due
Season,
he posts various prophetic words. The following words identify the third temple
as the Tabernacle of David and the gatekeepers as those who have the power and
the authority to either allow people to enter that tabernacle or deny them
entrance.
"The Lord is now commissioning gatekeepers for the Tabernacle of David. Isaiah tells us (in chapter 22) that the Lord is going to replace the unfaithful stewards in His house, and is going to appoint true servants and give them the key of David to open and close spiritual gates for His people."
"The Lord has been speaking to me about the rebuilding of David's Tabernacle according to the prophetic word in Acts 15:16-17, 'After this I will return, And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord'. It is my opinion that the Tabernacle of David will come to be known as the righteous saints who are the true church (those who worship in spirit and truth) that demonstrate the power of God in this, the end of the age.”
"He is bringing forth His Church of glory. The third temple is arising. It is the tabernacle of David, the fallen hut. He is repairing the breeches and raising up the walls, preparing a holy habitation for His Shekinah glory. Let the Church arise to its heritage and make ready the way of the Lord. Lift up your heads o ye gates and the King of Glory shall come in, the Lord of Hosts, mighty in battle!"
Revival churches
(those who have made the transition to the new "paradigm") are viewed
as the true, end-time remnant that will "demonstrate the power of God in
this, the end of the age". They will cause the great end-time revival,
bring in the harvest and establish the
"Says the Lord of hosts. The stop gate [in a dream of Bill Burns’ daughter, Laura] represents the power of opening and shutting by the authority of the Lord. The three guards represent those gatekeepers that will become manifest in the third day of power that we are now entering into, which will also be a day of judgment. We must now pay attention to the Wind (voice of the Spirit) so that our timing is correct if we are to be found in safe habitations in the coming days, and we must follow the directions of the gatekeepers so harm will not come to us as divine judgment comes to the earth. Clearance was given one at a time, so admittance into the safety of David's Tabernacle will not be given carte blanche to groups or denominations. It will be a personal relationship with Christ that admits one, and those will be recognized by the gatekeepers."
According to Mr. Burn's interpretation of his daughter's dream, gatekeepers will function as "guards" at the door of this restored temple. They will give "clearance" to one person at a time to enter the safety of that tabernacle. The criteria by which they will judge each individual, the way they will know whether or not to let people through the door, is if they "recognize" that they have a "personal relationship with Christ".
The next logical
question is: what standard are these
gatekeepers going to be using to judge whether or not a person seeking safety
inside this tabernacle has a personal relationship with Christ? Will they look
at his lifestyle—whether it exhibits holiness or carnality? Will they look at
his verbal profession of faith in Christ? Will they look at whether or not he
holds fast to the Word of God?
Mr. Burns has already
given the answer. He said the Tabernacle of David will consist of those who can
"demonstrate the power of God". It will consist of those who
"worship in spirit and truth". In order to be part of this end-time
tabernacle, you must embrace the power behind the revival. The
gatekeepers, being under that power completely, will be able to tell whether or
not you are walking under
the same spirit they are, and they will judge you accordingly.
"The gatekeepers will open the treasuries of God and bring
forth the Master's instructions and provision for these end times (1 Chronicles
"The
Bill Burns, Oct. 2000
In case the reader is
not familiar with the lingo of revival leaders, the "enemy" Mr. Burns
refers to is not the unsaved. The enemy is Christians who refuse to come under the power behind
the revival or submit to the spiritual authority of revival leaders. So the job
of these gatekeepers is to herd all the approved sheep into the safety of David's Tabernacle, while
outside, the judgement of God will be falling on all
who are not permitted to enter.
This is confirmed in
a prophecy by Bob Neuman, who often works with Bill
Burns. Here we see the gatekeepers excluding certain Christians from the
"There was a time were I would cry out a warning and call you to repent, but no more. For you see, to you who knew Him and tasted Him and were partakers of His grace and most Holy Spirit, only to turn away after your own lusts and desires, the door is closed for good. No longer will you enter into His house...abuse His servants...defile His habitation... mock His hospitality. His city is now closed to you and your evil and perverse ways. You scorned His grace and ignored His mercy. And you had the gall to touch and harm His servants. You had the word and the most Holy Spirit. You have no excuse...the doors are closed...the gates are barred....He who sits on the throne of heaven laughs. He now places his gatekeepers at his gates. At the door of His pavilion stands a doorkeeper who yearns only for the Master's pleasure. And he takes no bribes..."
At first glance one
might think the people Mr. Neuman refers to are apostate
Christians. They had known God and tasted of Him, they
were partakers of His grace and Holy Spirit, yet turned away from Him and
followed their own lusts and desires. According to Mr. Neuman,
they came into the house of God and defiled His habitation, mocked His
hospitality, scorned His grace, ignored His mercy and had the gall to touch
(challenge) His servants. Certainly such scoundrels deserve to be shut out of the Kingdom ("City")
of God, right?
There's only one
problem. Mr. Neuman is accusing these people of doing
all these things solely because they have rejected the revival and the
ministers of the revival. He is equating their rejection of the revival with the rejection of God.
He is saying their rejection of the revival means they have abused the Lord's servants, defiled His
habitation, mocked His hospitality, scorned His grace and ignored His mercy. To
him, rejecting the revival means people have chosen to follow their own lusts
and desires. It means their ways are evil and perverse. This is exactly how
many revival leaders view people who reject them and their teachings.
"On
In the Bible, the Tabernacle of Moses lacked God's presence at the time the Tabernacle of David was being built, yet it continued to operate without His presence. For a time, the Tabernacles of Moses and of David operated simultaneously. Dr. Painter said this represented the fact that during the end times there will be two tabernacles that also operate simultaneously. That is, the 'church' with unfaithful ministers and people who are content with empty ritual, and the true end time Church that is full of God's presence, built by Jesus and not by man.”
"The Gatekeeper: The Ministry Of The Intercessor"
Froukje E. Jansen
One of the saddest
things about many of these revival doctrines—and this one in particular—is that
they are so close to the truth. Once a person rejects them (as they should),
they are usually unable to accept the real
thing when it crosses their path. We have had people say we are teaching error
because of the truth contained in our Sons Of God writing. These
people have run across the counterfeit in the past and in
some cases have been burnt by groups who taught it. Experiencing the
counterfeit has ruined them for life. They will never again be open to the
genuine message of Sonship, regardless of how
Scriptural it is.
The spirit behind
this revival defiles everything that is
pure and holy and turns the meat of the Word (deeper
spiritual truths) into maggot-filled flesh. It perverts the Scriptural teaching
on the Melchizedek order, the army of the Lord, Christ in you, the hope of
glory, the one new man, true spiritual warfare and deliverance, the concept of
overcoming and the ministry of judgment. In addition, it totally misrepresents
the transition period we have entered by twisting the true symbolism of David's Tabernacle.
It's true that we are entering a time of transition. Just
as there was a transition period between the dispensation of Moses and the
dispensation of Christ, so there will be a transition period between the Church
age and the Kingdom age. Unfortunately, Christendom is divided into two camps, both of which are missing what God is
doing. Pentecostals and Charismatics are missing what
God is doing because they are accepting a counterfeit of it.
Fundamentalists are missing what God is doing because they reject the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, which is absolutely necessary to enter into it.
In addition, few
people from either camp have the capacity to understand that the focus of God
at the end of our age is not
the same as it was at the beginning of it. At the
beginning of the Church age there was an emphasis on evangelism, for God was
gathering a people out of all nations for His name. At the end the Church age
the emphasis is very different. It is on bringing those whom He has gathered
from those nations into the fulness of Christ.
The Lord defined the
work that He would be doing at the beginning of this age during a council
meeting of Church leaders, which was held in Jerusalem, in order to determine
once and for all what should be done with the multitude of Gentile believers who were
being swept into the Jewish Church through the
ministry of Paul, but who were not being required by him to be circumcised or
keep the commandments of Moses. After much discussion and debate, James stood
up and spoke the following words:
Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Acts 15:14-17
James said all these Gentiles
coming to salvation was the fulfilment
of prophesy. God had spoken through the prophet Amos and said that one day He
would "build again the tabernacle of David...that the residue of men might
seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called".
Here we are told explicitly by one of the
original apostles under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit that David’s
Tabernacle actually pertained to our age, for the fulfilment of the
prophesy regarding its re-building consists of God going to the Gentiles to "take out of
them a people for his name."
The Tent that David
pitched represents some very important things. First and foremost it
represented the intimate fellowship with God that is available to all who come
to Him through the "new and living way" (New Covenant) that was
consecrated by the blood of His Son. It was a prophetic picture of how the Lord’s people in this age—both Jew and Gentile—would be
able to know God without having to go through an intermediary clergy with its attending
rites, commandments and religious structures.
It's also true that
the fact that David pitched his Tent in
During this same
period of time the Tabernacle itself was moved to different places. It was at Nob when King Saul murdered 80 priests because they helped
David escape his grip. Soon after this it was moved to
Being fearful and
grieved, David took the
King David was moving
completely out of the due order that had been established by God Himself. The
divine order for that age was the
Tabernacle of Moses and the Levitical priesthood. Yet
he seemingly defied that whole order. Instead of bringing the Tabernacle to
This was not the
worst of David’s actions. He broke an even more solemn portion of the due order.
Everyone except the high priest (and he only once a year) was forbidden on pain
of death to look upon the Ark of the Covenant. Yet David displayed the
The reason God
allowed David to do all these things is because he was a man after God’s own
heart—and the thing that is closest to God’s heart is His desire to have
direct, personal union with His people. Therefore, God allowed him to bypass the
order of that age and walk in the order of the next age. He began moving in
the order of the New Covenant, where the Presence of God (
Although David
started moving in the order of this age, and though he encouraged all
David was nothing like today's revival
leaders. These people have no idea what they are talking about. David left the
Tabernacle and the Priesthood where it was and gave it God's blessing. Even
more importantly, he left every Israelite free to choose where (in which of the two orders) they
wanted to walk (worship). They could stay with the present order and worship at
Today we are in the
same type of situation that existed in David’s day. There are two divine
orders in existence. There is an order of worship that is based on and focused
around "the ministry" (an intermediary clergy). This is the original Apostolic order that has been corrupted ever since A.D. 350
and it answers to Moses’ Tabernacle at
There is also an
order of worship that is based on and focused around direct union with Messiah
and immediate guidance from Him personally. This is the Melchizedek order (the
order of the next age) and it answers to David’s Tabernacle at
Once again we are
free to choose which of the two orders we want to walk in. We can stay with the
present order at
Contrary to what revival
leaders claim, those who are comfortable with the
present order can still experience the blessing of God. The presence of God is
still in this order to a certain degree. Of course the Melchizedek order is a better order, not only because the Apostolic order has been corrupted, but more importantly,
because that order will pass away once we have fully entered the Kingdom age.
What's happening
right now is that revival leaders are saying they have been called by
God to set up the Melchizedek order, which they are calling the New Apostolic Reformation. But God has not
called them to set up the Melchizedek order because that order has already been
set up by Jesus! The genuine Melchizedek order has nothing to do with apostles
and prophets. It has nothing to do with "ministries". It has nothing
to do with "sheep" and "shepherds". All these things are
part of the Apostolic order.
We need to understand
that the "new paradigm" these revival leaders are establishing is neither the original
(restored) Apostolic order of the New Testament, nor
is it the true Melchizedek order which is typified by David's Tabernacle. It is
just a continuation (and further corruption) of the original Apostolic
order—and it is being used by them as a tool to re-establish a man-made priesthood between the believer
and his Head.
They have been
seduced by demonic teaching spirits because they refuse to subject either their goals (world evangelism
and church growth) or their spiritual
experience to the plumb-line of God's written Word. They have been initiated into
the occult and in the name of Jesus and they are using occult practices to help
establish the government of Antichrist in the earth!
To Be Continued
