Chapter Index

Meat In Due Season

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

Matthew 24:45‑46

After giving a detailed prediction of the last days and His second coming, Jesus said that when He returns, the servant who is giving His people "meat in due season" will be blessed. This statement not only reveals that there are different kinds of seasons in God's eternal plan, it also shows there are different kinds of meat (teaching) which corresponds to these different seasons. A wise and faithful servant of God will not be giving His people just any old kind of meat in these days. He will be giving them the meat that's appropriate for the season they are presently in.

The term season is not synonymous with dispensation. Different seasons can occur within a particular dispensation. In fact, the Church has already passed through several different spiritual seasons during this present dispensation. The beginning of the Church Age was a season of evangelism. Jesus sent the apostles out to make disciples of people from all nations. Thus, when the apostles went to the ends of the earth preaching the gospel, they were giving the people of the nations "meat in due season".

Three-hundred and fifty years later, the vast majority of the fellowships that were raised up as the result of the apostle's preaching had descended into the darkness of Roman Catholicism. After wallowing around in vain rituals and a theology of works-righteousness for a thousand years, there came a season of restoration of the truth of Scripture—primarily, salvation by faith. Men like Luther and the Reformers were "servants" who were giving God's household their "meat in due season".

During the late 1800's and the early 1900's there was a season of awakening, with massive revivals breaking out all over the world. From Wales to New York, the Spirit of God was moving in powerful ways. Men like Jonathan Edwards, Evan Roberts and Charles Finney were "servants" who were giving people their "meat in due season".

In the early 1900's there was another season of restoration, which started at Azuza Street. This time it wasn't salvation by faith that was being restored but the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit fell at Azuza street and spread like a wild fire all across America, and then throughout the whole world.

From 1948 to the early 60's there came a season of revelation concerning the ultimate purpose and goal of redemption. The Spirit of God began shifting our attention away from an external rapture, to the internal purifying work God wanted to do in His people in preparation for the Lord's return. The reality that God does intend to have a body of saints who are "without spot or wrinkle" when Jesus returns was suddenly given to those who had ears to hear what the Spirit was saying. Those who relayed this further revelation to God's people were "servants" who were giving God's household their "meat in due season".

Our point here is not to give a lesson in Church History. Rather, we are trying to show that both the written Word and our experience as the Church of Jesus Christ over the last 2000 years reveals that there are different kinds of spiritual seasons within this present dispensation, a few of which we have mentioned. We also want to show that we have already passed through the vast majority of these spiritual seasons.

Sometime during the 80's we entered another spiritual season. However, this season is very different from the previous ones. It's called "the evil day" by Paul (Eph. 6:13), the "hour of temptation" by the apostle John (Rev. 3:10), and the "beginning of sorrows" by Jesus (Matt. 24:8). It's a season of defeat—a time when Satan deceives and overcomes many of the saints.

I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

Daniel 7:20‑22

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Revelation 13:5‑7

Both Daniel and John predicted a season would come in which Satan would be granted the power and authority to make war with the saints, wear them out, prevail against them, and overcome them. The apostle Paul and the Lord Jesus Christ gave us the same warnings. They warned us that a time was coming when Satan would be allowed to send his false prophets and apostles into the churches and, in the name of Jesus, perform genuine miracles. In the name of Jesus, they would preach a false gospel and raise up great evangelistic works. They warned that these people would be flowing among true Christians.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:24‑25

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

II. Thessalonians2 :3‑4

We have entered a terribly dangerous period of time. We are in the midst of the great falling away. This is a season of defeat for many Christians. Multitudes are being deceived and are accepting a counterfeit Christ into their lives. Right now, another "Jesus" is taking his seat in the temple of God.

Since the last days is a season of delusion and defeat, it should come as no surprise that as we read the book of Revelation, we find the main issue is overcoming. In chapter four we see that Jesus is the original overcomer. John is shown a book with seven seals but there was no one in heaven or on earth worthy to open it. As John weeps over this fact, the angel says: "...Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals" (Rev. 5:5 NAS).

In chapters two and three, Jesus comes to John and gives him a message for each of the seven churches in Asia. Once again, the issue is overcoming. Each church had a specific test or temptation to overcome. Jesus said if they overcame, they would receive great rewards. Just as the Early Church had specific issues to overcome, so the Last Day Church has specific issues to overcome. Just as they had to overcome in order to partake of the rewards that are mentioned, so we must overcome in order to partake of those rewards. The rewards are the same, but the things we must overcome are different.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority...And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 13:1-8

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:11-18

The issues facing us right now are these two beasts. This is our peculiar test. No other generation has ever had to face what we face in this hour, for the emergence of these two beasts is a specific, time-related event. They are not unleashed until the final hours of this age. Those who want to be found giving God's people their meat in due season will be warning them about the rise of these two beasts. They will be warning God's people that these two beasts are invisible powers that have already been unleashed and are wrecking havoc in the churches. Those who want to give meat in due season will teach God's people how to recognize these two spirits, how to resist them, and how to overcome them.

What good does it do to win souls if we don't teach them how to keep from being overcome by Antichrist? What good does it do to get people baptized and filled with the Spirit if we don't teach them how to keep from being overcome by the False Prophet? What good does it do to teach people great end-time truths if we don't teach them how to keep from being overcome by these two spirits? God's people must have this meat!

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Joel 2:15‑17

During a season of delusion and defeat, the Lord's ministers should be sounding an alarm "in Zion". They should be sounding an alarm among the Lord's people regarding the deceptions that are sweeping through the Church. They should be calling a solemn assembly and weeping over the things that are happening to their fellow Christians. They should be crying out to the Lord and asking Him not to give His heritage into the hand of the enemy.

But wherever you look you find the exact opposite. Instead of being sober and weeping over what is happening to the Church, everyone is having a great time. Wherever you go you will see a positive and upbeat attitude. When you ask the average Christian how they are doing, they will start telling you about all the wonderful things God is doing. You will hear how Christianity is advancing on all fronts. You will hear how God is saving millions of people. You will hear about all the great miracles that are happening (especially in South America and Africa), including people being raised from the dead.

When you bring up the subject of the end times, nothing changes! Their view of the last days is just as positive. You will hear how God is making us all one in the Spirit, and how Satan is cringing because he sees the Body of Christ rising up as "one man" to tear down his strongholds all over the planet. You will hear how we are (finally!) on the verge of completing the Great Commission. They will tell you a world-wide revival is coming (any day now!) and that when it arrives, Satan's kingdom will begin to collapse. They will tell you the Final Harvest is about to be brought in—and on and on it goes.

This kind of attitude is a far cry from the one the Scripture says we should have, especially in the last days. When the disciples asked Jesus to explain what would happen in the days just prior to His return, the first thing He said was: "Take heed that no man deceive you" (Matt. 24:4). When the apostle Paul started teaching the saints at Thessalonica about the Day of the Lord, the first thing he said was: "Let no man deceive you by any means". Then he told them to "watch and be sober" (I. Thess. 2:3 & 5:6).

Friends, there is a reason Paul warned us to watch, be sober and to let no one deceive us. There is a reason Jesus warned us to take heed that no man deceives us. There is a reason Joel said the ministers of God should be blowing a trumpet in Zion and weeping between the porch and the altar in this hour. The reason is because the hallmark of the last days is religious delusion—delusion so strong, many saints will be overcome and carried away by it.

It's a testimony to the deceiving power of Satan that at the point in history where the Church should be the most sober, the most watchful, and exercising the most spiritual discernment, it is doing just the opposite! Right now, many of God's people are incapable of taking the warnings of Daniel, Jesus, John and Paul seriously because they have been taught their whole lives that God loves them too much to ever let them be deceived. They are incapable of being sober and watchful because they have been taught that since it's impossible for "the elect" to be deceived—and they are the elect—it is therefore impossible for them to be deceived.

Since they are incapable of taking the warnings of the Scripture seriously, they have already come under the power of Antichrist and the False Prophet and they don't even realize it! They can't see what's happening because they are walking in a deception that seems so right and feels so good. In the name of the Holy Spirit, Satan is giving them what they want. In the name of Jesus, he is making them so happy and content they can't be sober, they can't watch. They can't see any need to sound an alarm or weep.

Just as the Philistines did to Samson's natural eyes, so Antichrist and the False Prophet have put out the spiritual eyes of many of today's Christians. The difference between what happened to Samson and what's happening now is that Samson realized what had happened to him. He knew his eyes had been put out and he knew it was his enemies who did it. Today's Christians have no idea their spiritual eyes have been put out and they have no idea it was their enemies who did it. As a result, they are quite content to follow and serve the very spirits that have blinded and overcome them!

When Paul said: "...in the last days perilous times shall come" (II. Tim. 3:1), he wasn't kidding! Many saints are being overcome by these two beasts right now. Many are being eternally destroyed. They are being made spiritually desolate and are being cut off from God. We are giving meat in due season because we are sounding an alarm "in Zion".

Brother Daniel

The Two Beasts

When people read about the two beasts in Revelation, the assumption is that these two beasts are organizations, governments or men. Moreover, John said they won’t be manifested until the last 42 months (3½ years) of this age. Thus the average Christian cannot recognize that these two beasts have already arisen as invisible spiritual forces.

Whenever the spiritual dimension is involved, you cannot approach the biblical data the same way as if you were dealing with the material dimension alone. Some aspects of these two beasts and their work are literal and cannot be interpreted spiritually. Other aspects are spiritual and cannot be interpreted literally. Still other aspects are both literal and spiritual. This can be seen by examining the following passages of Scripture.

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads...And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Revelation 9:2‑4 & 10‑11

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Revelation 20:1‑3

And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

Luke 8:31

The information we have concerning the bottomless pit shows that it is a place where spiritual beings are held prisoner. Its first mention in Revelation is in connection with the freeing of creatures likened unto "locusts." These are not actual insects, for they had a king over them and locusts "have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands..." (Prov. 30:27). Also, these creatures are told not to "hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree." Their scorpion-like tails that inflict pain, along with their human-like faces and hair, indicate that they are supernatural, demonic, intelligent and malevolent.

We also see that Satan, who is a spiritual being, is bound with a chain (which must also be spiritual) and cast into this pit for a thousand years. Again, when Jesus cast a host of demons out of the Gadarene they begged Him not to send them into "the deep." The Greek term there is "abussos" (ab'‑us‑sos), the same term that is translated "bottomless pit" throughout the book of Revelation.

Twice John said the first beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. Since the Scripture tells us the only kinds of creatures that inhabit the bottomless pit are spiritual creatures, we can be sure that the first beast is primarily an invisible spiritual power. He also said those who dwell on the earth will wonder when they "behold the beast." In order for people to behold this powerful spirit with their physical eyes, it will have to assume some kind of material form. So we can see that eventually this invisible power will become a visible government. It's this visible government John is referring to when he says the beast had seven heads. The seven heads are "seven mountains" and mountains symbolize kingdoms in Scripture.

In Revelation eleven he describes this beast as an evil spirit coming out of the bottomless pit, while in chapter thirteen he describes it as a political power rising up out of the sea. Thus, John uses the term "beast" to represent both a spiritual power and a political government.

He also said the ten horns on the beast are "ten kings". This language is very similar to the language used by Daniel when he described the rise of the fourth beast in his visions. Like John, he saw a beast—representing a political empire—rise up out of the sea (Dan. 7:2-3). After describing this beast, Daniel begins to focus on the "horns" that are on the "head" of the beast. Once again, we see that the horns represent human political leaders.

And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

Daniel 7:20‑22

We can be sure this fourth beast is the last kingdom of this age and the ten horns are the leaders of this kingdom, for Daniel said the horn (leader) that had eyes and a mouth speaking great things will make war on the saints and prevail against them until God comes on the scene personally to put a stop to it—at which point the Kingdom of God is given to the saints.

With this additional information we can see that the first beast in the Book of Revelation is: (1) a powerful spirit that ascends from the bottomless pit; (2) an evil world-government; and (3) a human political leader (the "little horn") who will eventually lead this government.

We cannot be absolutely sure as to the timing of the final establishment of a global government. It may be one year away and it may be five years away. However, we can be sure the spiritual power that's building this government has already come on the scene. The first beast has already ascended out of the bottomless pit.

In previous writings—as well as in the last part of this series—we stated our belief that this beast is the same spirit of Antichrist that was around in the apostle John's day. However, upon further study, it becomes obvious that this first beast (spirit) is not let out of the bottomless pit until the end of this present age. This means that either it was free at one point and was bound and put into the pit by someone, or else it has never been loose before. If it was loose and then bound, it is the very same spirit John had to fight in his day. If it has never been loose before, then it's not the exact same spirit John was fighting, but it's still a spirit of Antichrist. Either way, it's real, it has already been loosed, and it's extremely dangerous!

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Revelation 13:11‑12

The second beast comes up out of the earth. If the sea represents secular humanity, then the earth probably represents religious humanity. Thus, its name is the "False Prophet". The fact that it has "two horns like a lamb" signifies that this beast is specifically identifying itself with Christianity (the Lamb of God). In other words, this beast comes in the name of Christianity. It comes on the scene promoting a Christianity that's not true Christianity. It also speaks as a dragon, meaning, it will be a smooth-talker. It will have the ability to deceive most people by what it says without their ever realizing it. It will also have supernatural power. So it will also be able to deceive people by what it does.

This is precisely what we are seeing today. The kind of Christianity that's being propagated throughout the world is not true Christianity. It's not the gospel that was preached by Jesus and the apostles. Rather, it's an ugly mutation of truth and error. It's man-centered, devoid of true repentance, and incapable of saving anyone. Yet it's being accepted by multitudes of people.

Most of today's religious leaders have all the external trappings of the Christian faith but they "speak as a dragon" because they are under the influence of a powerful religious spirit—a spirit that freely talks about Jesus while spreading a counterfeit gospel. Over the years these leaders have deceived multitudes of people by what they say.

As if this was not bad enough, during the 80's many of these ministers began receiving supernatural power, which they assumed was coming from God, when in reality it was coming from Satan. Now, not only do they talk about Jesus and spread a false gospel in His name, they can also minister supernaturally in His name. They not only have the ability to deceive us by what they say, they can now deceive us by what they do.

In their present spiritual form, these two beasts are much more dangerous than any Antichrist government or human political leader will ever be because they can counterfeit everything the Spirit of God does in a person's life. They can give us counterfeit gifts of the Spirit. They can give us a false spiritual language (tongues). They can give us supernatural power. They can give us a false gift of prophecy, a false gift of revelation knowledge, and on and on it goes. In addition, some people have received gifts that aren't even mentioned in the Scripture—like an extra-ordinarily beautiful singing voice, or the sudden ability to write beautiful poems. We have also seen these spirits produce counterfeit fruits of the Spirit in people's lives. They have given people false peace, false patience, false joy, false love, and a false sense of security.

Spiritually speaking, we have entered a time of complex jungle warfare, but most of us are still playing church games. We are blindly strolling down a path that's filled with spiritual land-minds, yet we have no idea there is any danger. This is why so many people are being overcome right now. We are facing the most powerful, the most cunning, and the most brazen spirits we have ever had to deal with. These beasts have been given the authority to come to us in God's name and counterfeit the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.

When they come to us they don't tempt us to drink or smoke or gamble or take dope or commit adultery—they are religious spirits. They like to talk about God. They like to do religious things. They will give us the desire to go to church and sing religious songs. They will give us a desire to pray and prophesy. They will even give us a desire to read the Bible! As long as the things we are doing are leading us into a relationship with another Jesus, these spirits will be more religious than we could ever be! Their brazen character is described by Daniel and John.

And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.

Daniel 11:36

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down...And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

Daniel 8:11 & 25

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Revelation 17:12‑14

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him [Jesus] that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Revelation 19:19

In these passages we are shown the arrogant and brazen character of the spiritual forces that drive these human leaders (kings and horns) to do what they do. They exalt themselves and magnify themselves above every god, even to the Prince of princes. They speak impudent things against Jesus Christ and the Father. They will also take away the daily sacrifice, cast down the sanctuary, sit in God's temple, and make war with the Lamb.

Friends, Antichrist and the False Prophets are spirits and they are here now. They are already busy building a Global Government and a Global Church. They are already wrecking havoc among God's people. As a matter of fact, the False Prophet is the spirit that's behind the whole Prophetic Movement.

Over the last fifteen years there has been an explosion of self-proclaimed prophets and prophetesses. Today there are thousands of ministers running around predicting the future destinies of entire nations, of the Church, and of individual believers. There are thousands more laymen on the Internet doing the same thing. But none of these prophesies are being tested and many of them are turning out to be false.

Few seem to question the prophesies themselves or the people who give them. Few stop to think that something just might possibly be wrong with all this. It seems that most everyone just assume these prophesies are coming from God because the people say "thus saith the Lord" before they speak.

But even if today's Christians did start testing these prophesies, even if they did begin to realize that many of them are false, they still wouldn't consider the possibility that the source of all this confusion is the False Prophet. The reason they would never consider such a possibility is because they will never accept the possibility that God would allow Satan to deceive and overcome so many of His own children. They have been taught all their lives that God loves us too much to ever let anything really bad happen to us.

Last Days' Power

"I heard the Father say: 'I am beginning to prophesy through commercials, candy and clothing—especially over the holidays!' I sense the Lord is going to begin to name some new candy bars. When these are named they will release a prophetic anointing every time the name of the candy is mentioned. These names will have power to call forth life and salvation. I am sure this prophetic candy is bound to have a heavenly taste to it that will be out of this world! People will end up tasting and seeing that the Lord is good! I saw angels anointing candy bar wrappers like God anointing prayer cloths of apostle Paul. Names on popular candy wrappers will speak prophetically to whomever reads or speaks their names. Candy wrappers will become like anointed prayer cloths throughout the land

Bill Yount

November 29, 2004

Welcome to the Prophetic Movement. At the end of 2004 the above prophecy was a headline article on one of today's largest, well known prophetic Internet sites, called "The Elijah List". This message, along with others that were just as absurd, was billed as one of the most important prophetic words the Lord was speaking to the Church.

Mr. Yount is not an exception to the rule in today's circle of prophets—he is the rule. This prophecy will not be seen as far out to those in the Prophetic or Revival movements because it's basic message is identical to the one being propagated by those in these movements. The message is that God is going to pour His Spirit out upon all flesh (saved and unsaved) in the last days, and He's going to do it in non-traditional ways.

This is why traditional preaching has become passe to revivalists. It's why they mock pastors who stick to the old-fashioned method of evangelizing—which is to preach the gospel from the Scripture. They view supernatural power as superior to good old-fashioned preaching because in their minds, the Church has spent over 1900 years preaching the gospel and still hasn't been able to affect more than 20% of the world's population. To them, preaching has been proven to be a complete failure. They are utterly convinced that the thing that's going to turn this whole situation around is a demonstration of God's power.

Not only are they looking for spiritual power, they are seeking out more and more innovative ways to release that power in order to affect the salvation of both individuals and entire nations. Thus the candy bar prophecy. One of these innovations is evangelism through prophecy. This is when those who (supposedly) have a prophetic gift or ministry go out into the streets or into malls and prophesy over the unsaved.

At the end of last year, in an article entitled: A New Kind Of Power Evangelism Being Released, one famous revivalists told how he and his ministry team had converted over 150 souls while doing "God readings"

"A church without walls in Korea. Hundreds converge on mall floors, not sharing the gospel but doing free God reading's (prophecy over unbelievers). There were 174 souls saved in 2 hours. We had our fresh fire missions team of 8, and several other friends from the USA on the worship team. We hung up a sign in Korean in the mall: 'Free Spiritual Readings'. We set up 6 tables, with two people and a translator at each. We did it in the food court. We gave prophetic words over the lost for 2 hours, while hundreds of others went throughout the mall praying and gathering the lost. Several of the souls saved were Buddhists."

Todd Bentley

Fresh Fire Ministries

Once again, simply sharing the gospel is out because it's powerless. When was the last time you witnessed to people the old-fashioned way in a shopping mall and walked away with 174 converts? Friends, this is impressive stuff—unless you understand that it's not being done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's being done by the power of Satan. All these people are doing is giving free psychic readings and calling it Power Evangelism.

In a 1990 article, which was accepted as God-inspired by all revivalists, James Ryle wrote about a couple of dreams he experienced regarding the new music God was going to unleash in the Church during these last days, which would become one of the most powerful tools for evangelism the Church will ever see. The article was called: "The Sons of Thunder - A Prophetic Dream".

At the time he experienced the dreams, Mr. Ryle was the Senior Pastor of the Boulder, Colorado, Vineyard Church—the one Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers) visited and eventually joined. Speaking of the dreams, he said:

"After I had written the dream down, the Lord spoke to me and said, 'I'm about to release a new kind of song in the streets. It will bring a revelation of the truth and it will usher men into my presence.' I filed that away until about a month later, when I had another dream...In the second dream, I was taken to a large church which had a stage...When I awoke, the Lord said that there was going to be a new and distinctive anointing and sound restored to music that will turn the heads and capture the hearts of men for Jesus Christ. He said that we would see this happen when the church gets beyond the limits that she set for herself, into his grace, and takes the praise that is in the sanctuary and makes it music in the streets...Simply singing the truth in the name of Jesus Christ—'we say unto you be saved'—will release the power of His Spirit in such an awesome display that men and women will collapse in their seats converted to Christ...[the] key will be this new anointing He is about to give to his music."

Mr. Ryle is not the only revivalist guru to predict the coming of a new kind of music that would be so anointed, people would fall down under the power and be saved just by listening to it. Rick Joyner predicted basically the same thing around the same time.

"Anointed music will be one of the church's biggest guns in the battle of the last days ... The Lord is about to anoint prophetic minstrels who will capture the world's attention..."

Rick Joyner

The Harvest - Volume 2

Oops! Looks like preachers and evangelists have been misapplying the apostle Paul's words for over 1900 years! When he said in Romans 1:16 that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, they thought he meant they were to evangelize the lost by preaching the gospel. Thanks to today's restored prophets, our spiritual eyes have finally been opened and we can now see what Paul was really saying. He was saying that God wants to use super-anointed Rock&Roll music to overpower the lost!

Since preaching the gospel is seen by revivalists as powerless and useless, they are turning to other forms of evangelism in an attempt to do what they think old-fashioned preaching has failed to do. What they can't seem to grasp is that no form of evangelism will ever be able to do what they foolishly assume must be done. No amount of power or anointing (or preaching) will ever convert the majority of the people on this planet.

Those who are obsessed with getting and experiencing power will never understand that the issue is not the presence or absence of power. The issue is the rebellious and stubborn hearts of men. It wouldn't matter if God came down off His throne and personally stood in the middle of the street. People would still refuse to repent because they like being their own god. They like being their own boss and they have no intention of submitting their lives to anyone else, especially the God of heaven. That's why Jesus will have to smash the nations into little bitty pieces when He finally does return.

All revivalists have some common beliefs, which are religious fantasies. The first one, as we have just seen, is that if we can just demonstrate enough supernatural power the nations will certainly repent and accept the gospel. The second one is that since the Scripture says the world and all it's inhabitants belong to the Lord, this means every nation has a destiny to fulfill in God and it's our job to bring them into that destiny.

Indeed, one particular "prophetess" has made a fortune simply by predicting the future destinies of entire nations—and by the way, none of these destinies are negative. Each "prophecy" speaks of a great revival that's coming to the nation she is prophesying over, and each one says the nation will play an important role in bringing God's kingdom to the earth. Listening to her is like opening a Chinese fortune cookie. You don't know what it will say but you know it will be something positive! A typical example of this error can be seen in the following quote from the introduction to "apostle" Bret A. Wade's web site.

"Whether it is here in the U.S. or abroad...the world is our home! Our cities belong to Christ! The earth and everything on it belongs to the Lord. The world and its people belong to Him. Jesus said to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into His harvest. Each member of the Body of Christ is a part of that ministry! We are all ministers of reconciliation...Our desire is to affect our nation and the nations of the world by furthering the kingdom of God. We believe that each village, town, city, state, region and nation has a destiny in God to be fulfilled. It is with this in mind that we look to the nations with a kingdom mentality!"

Pick any of today's apostles or prophets and you will see the same belief system. The idea is that because the earth belongs to the Lord, it's up to us to bring His kingdom rule out of heaven, down into every sphere of life. In short, it's our job to establish the Kingdom of God for Jesus. This is the doctrine of the Revival and Restoration movements. Go to any prophetic web site, read any prophetic magazine or newsletter, visit any Revival or Restoration church, and this is what you will hear. Since almost every prophetic voice is singing the same tune, it's obvious they are all listening to the same "spirit". But is it the Spirit of God? Or is it another spirit?

And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Revelation 2:26‑27

The assumptions that are so central to the belief system of every revivalist are totally contrary to the Scriptural view of the last days. When Jesus was talking to the Church of Thyatira, He said those who overcome would be given power over the nations and would rule them with a "rod of iron". Please notice how this ruling relationship between the overcoming saint and the nations is described. Jesus said the nations will be "broken to shivers". That means they will be smashed into tiny pieces. Jesus was quoting the promise He had received from His Father regarding the nations in the Psalms.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Psalms 2:6‑9

Here we get an even clearer picture of what will happen when the Lord returns. Jesus (and the overcommers) will break the nations with a rod of iron. Then they will smash (dash) them into pieces with that same rod of iron. Now think for a moment. If the nations must be broken and smashed with a rod of iron when the Lord returns, what does that tell us? It tells us that at the time of the Lord's return, the nations will be walking in stubborn rebellion. That rebellion will be so strong, only a smashing by a rod of iron will subdue them!

What about the Great Revival? What about all the nations being evangelized? What about the nations fulfilling their "destiny" in bringing God's kingdom to earth? What about the kingdom being established for Jesus? If the nations are so stubborn and rebellious at His return that He must smash them into pieces with a rod of iron, then the whole theology of revivalists is false!

Anyone who knows the Scripture at all, knows that it predicts over and over again that just prior to the Lord's return, the nations will hate and kill God's people. They will hate and blaspheme God's name, and they will be serving and worshiping the Dragon, Antichrist and the False Prophet.

How then do we explain the wave of spiritual power that's sweeping through the churches? Clearly, things are happening everywhere you turn which are nothing less than supernatural. What about the tens of thousands of people who are being saved in this nation, and the hundreds of thousands who are being saved in other third world countries? How do we explain all this? Well, the answer is quite simple. It's a false revival.

If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 13:1‑3

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:24‑25

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

II. Thessalonians 2:8‑9

And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:13‑14

Satan—who was already described as an "angel of light" and was already transforming his ministers into "ministers of righteousness" in Paul's day (See: II. Cor. 11:13-15)—has flooded our churches with false prophets and apostles who have real supernatural power. These people are empowered by the spirit of Antichrist and the False Prophet; and the reason they are having so much success is because God's people do not believe the Scripture. They do not believe Jesus and His apostles really meant what they said. They read these warnings and refuse to apply them to what's happening inside the churches.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

II. Corinthians 11:3-4

What's being presented to the people of the world right now is another gospel. It's a humanistic gospel, devoid of any genuine repentance. When people accept another gospel, they receive another Jesus and another spirit as the result. Just take a close look at the "Jesus" all these people are getting and you will soon realize it's not the Jesus of the Bible.

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth...These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 11:3&6-7

The Scripture reveals that two kinds of power will be available in the final hours of this age. One will be Satanic and the other will be Messianic. Both kinds will produce genuine miracles, but the types of miracles they will produce will be different. The type of power that will come from God is clearly identified in the above passage. It will be given to a company of purified saints called the "Two Witnesses". Please notice that this power is not used to evangelize the nations. Their ministry is not one of reconciliation but one of judgment. They are given power to smite the earth with all manner of plagues, and there's no doubt they will do just that.

The people who move under this kind of anointing represent the true God of heaven and His real attitude towards a rebellious world. Thus they have the power to give the world a foretaste of what's coming if they keep hardening their hearts. In other words, those moving in this prophetic ministry are trying to stop people from worshiping the counterfeit Christ.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:11‑14

Contrast this with the kind of power that will be exhibited by the False Prophet. It too will have the power to do great miracles, but these miracles will not be judgments upon sin and rebellion. They will be demonstrations of power, which, along with its smooth and deceiving speech, will be used to get both Christians and non-Christians to worship the first beast. In other words, those moving in this (false) prophetic ministry will be encouraging people to worship the counterfeit Christ.

Which one of these powers best fits the events now taking place in our churches? Which power is making gold dust and angel feathers fall from the ceiling? Which power is manifesting itself as clouds, orbs of light and perfumed smoke? Which power makes people drunk, causes them to laugh hysterically, glues them to the floor for hours, and makes them act like animals?

Friends, this is just the beginning! In the coming days we will see those who move under this power perform incredible miracles. This is the kind of deception we are up against and very few of us are prepared to deal with it.

You see, the only kind of deception that can fool people who are walking close to the Lord is something that looks, sounds and feels exactly like the real thing. Those who stay close to the real Jesus will never be deceived by Eastern Religions or the New Age. They will never be deceived by Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses. They will never be deceived by the Prosperity Gospel, the Word of Faith error, the over-emphasis on love and unity at the expense of truth, or any of the other errors that are currently in vogue. The only thing that could ever fool them is a religious spirit that has the authority to perfectly imitate the voice, presence, power, gifts, and transforming work of the Holy Spirit—and this is precisely what we are up against.

The Prophetic Movement

At the end of 2004, the whole Prophetic Movement was shaken as the result of a couple of important events. The first event was the news that Paul Cain, one of the acknowledged "fathers" of the movement, had become an alcoholic and a practicing homosexual. The report of his fall was made by Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries.

The second event was the public denunciation of the movement by Andrew Strom, a fellow revivalist minister who has been one of the movements most ardent supporters. Mr. Strom is an itinerant preacher from New Zealand who hosts a couple of Internet sites on revival and the prophetic. He also maintains a prophetic email list called "ANZAC".

In October of 2004, Mr. Strom attended a prophetic conference in Kansas City, called the "Whitedove Conference". Many of the big names in the Prophetic Movement were there: Bob Jones, Paul Keith Davis, Bobby Conner, John Paul Jackson, Jim Goll and others. On November 3^rd, he wrote a report on what he saw at that conference. He then denounced the whole movement and said he was leaving it because it has become so corrupt and spiritually defiled it was beyond all hope of recovery.

His initial announcement was followed by two other articles concerning the present condition of the movement and its history. It's important to hear what this man says because he is still an ardent revivalist. He still believes in the prophetic. He still believes there will be a final harvest of billions of people into the kingdom. In fact, he is so committed to the revival vision he has recently moved his ministry and his family to Kansas City in order to start a whole new Prophetic Movement that will be spiritually pure.

His view is that the current movement was originally from God but has gone into terrible deception. The fact is, this movement was producing bad fruit from the start. It's not a case of a good movement gone bad, it’s a case of a bad movement finally being exposed for what it's always been. Those who wanted to know the truth about this movement were shown the truth years ago.

Below we will be quoting some of Mr. Strom's statements from the articles he has written and distributed. These articles can still be found on his Web site. The address is: http://homepage.ihug.co.nz/~revival/index2.html. Also, we will be quoting from another article he wrote, which we found on a Web site called Totem To Temple. This site is run by a man named Bob Rouse. The address of the site is: http://availablelightonline.com/blog. The article, entitled What A Reaction, can be found under the November 2004 archives. In his original article, Mr. Strom said:

"It is with great sadness that I make the following report. I said last week that the 'Whitedove Conference' in Kansas City this past weekend would be a pivotal one. It certainly was pivotal for me personally. I wish I could say that there was deep repentance - that the preaching was incredibly anointed and the crowd were on their faces crying before God. I wish I could say that, but I can't. In fact, it seemed to me that the opposite was true...I was grieved to the core by it. Many parts of it I would even describe as spiritually 'sick'.

Some people believe that the fall of Paul Cain into serious sin is some kind of aberration - just one individual's problem. But I am convinced that the fall of Paul Cain (who was recognized worldwide as the 'father' of this movement) is a symptom of a much wider disease. The whole movement is sick. As I have stated in previous articles, the 'Prophetic' as we know it is really a 'fallen' movement - since the early 1990's. But I always held out hope that it would somehow turn around and get back on track again. In fact, I believed that this conference was a heaven-sent opportunity for that to happen.

However, after what I saw this weekend, I no longer believe this is possible. The deception is now too deep. This movement is being 'given over to believe a lie' and I want no part of it. I am cutting myself off, because I cannot afford the disease to spread into what we ourselves are doing. Things have now gotten so bad that we have to separate ourselves - and to do so publicly...

...This was a gathering of key prophets at a moment in time when the 'father' of the movement had just fallen. It was God's ideal moment for a truly 'solemn assembly'...However, what actually eventuated at this event seemed to me to be more akin to a circus than a solemn assembly. The music, the concert-style lighting, the stage dancers, the groaning tables stacked high with books and CD's for sale, the 'ear-tickling', the hype, the $40.00 door fee (plus extra offerings taken each session) - and that's just for starters.

What really bothered me about the weekend was the total lack of any truly 'prophetic' preaching. There was some good stuff on self-pity and bitterness right near the start, but after that it was mostly downhill...Today's prophets seem to talk a lot about the 'sword of the Lord' but never actually bring it to bear. They bring no piercing word. And thus the entire movement is open to great deception. And instead of repentance, people are getting all kinds of counterfeit spiritual experiences. There seems to be almost no discernment at all.

The on-stage dancing throughout this conference was a good example. Now, I myself am a rock musician, but from the beginning these dance items had a rather 'wild' aspect to them that truly made me uncomfortable in my spirit. There was even one that came across like a sensual 'Harem' dance. Much of it really felt 'off' - and almost anyone who sees the videos will tell you so.

Even the worship had a very 'tribal' feel to it at times. And by day three they were doing dance items with just loud voodoo-style drums only - and leaping around in a frenzied circle making weird cries to the super-amplified beat. The feeling in the room was so oppressive and 'pagan' during this, that I could hardly even bear to stay in there.

Then came one of the most shocking statements of the whole conference - from one of the main prophets. He got up and said that people may feel uncomfortable with such obviously 'pagan' type dancing, but that it was originally God's type of dancing and we were just now 'stealing back' what the pagans had stolen from God!

I have to admit, this was the last straw for me. What could be more blatant? What kind of 'spirits' do they think are being transmitted to people who open themselves up to that music? There is no discernment in this movement at all...Remember, most of the major 'movers and shakers' of the Prophetic movement were at this conference, going along with this stuff. I repeat what I said earlier: This movement demonstrates absolutely no discernment. I urge everyone to get out now, before even worse is brought in. I believe this movement is right now being given over to deception by God - and it is going to get much worse...

...By the last session the audience was so hyped that they threw away all inhibition and leapt into the 'pagan' dancing themselves with wild abandon. And one of the main prophets even got up and announced that there were angels in the room going around "blowing on peoples' fingers" if only they would lift them up in the air. That particular part sounds silly, but actually the whole thing by this stage had become awful beyond words. Virtually every day I came home utterly grieved and depressed. I had come to this conference with great expectancy and hope, thinking that the return of Bob Jones may bring a renewal of all that was originally good about this movement. I literally came as a 'friend' and they turned me into an enemy in the space of three days.

Why I Left The Prophetic Movement

Andrew Strom - November 3, 2004

"I have never seen such a 'shaking' caused by any article we ever published, as the one on Why I Left The Prophetic Movement. That week I received over 2000 emails on the subject - even though my email was malfunctioning for 3 of those days...It has not been the emails that disagree with me or accuse me of being 'divisive', etc, that bring me to tears. It is the emails from all over the world that strongly agree with me and tell me of other horrors that they have witnessed themselves. I sat at my computer last night getting sadder and sadder as I read account after account of the sickness that has spread around the globe as part of this movement.

It is actually worse than I ever imagined. I know that Mr Taylor and others are hopeful that the Prophetic can somehow be 'reformed' - and they even see my articles as being helpful in this process. (ie. Forcing change). But I tell you, I believe this movement is beyond reforming. It has reached the point of no return. Some slight changes may occur - but they can only be 'surface' ones really. That is why I felt I had to totally cut myself off at this time. It really has become that bad.

We are talking here about a movement where it is encouraged for people to interact with 'Orbs of light' that come hovering down (-a major prophetic ministry does this), or to pay money for personal 'dream interpretations'. We are talking about a movement that teaches people how to 'visualize' their way into the 'Third Heaven' and sometimes holds 'Presbytery' days where you can book a half-hour personal appointment with a prophet for a hefty fee.

We are talking about a movement that majors on 'manifestations', 'portals' and weird 'visitations'. In every way it more closely resembles the New Age movement than anything Christian. In fact, more and more I am seeing that this movement is utterly dominated by a spirit of divination and fortune-telling. It is sick beyond words. And it’s prophets are utterly blind. Even now, they rush to hold a huge 'Visitations' gathering in Hollywood, led by Jill Austin - one of the most 'Divination'-oriented of them all.

I am close to tears even now, just writing about it. It is so awful what this movement has become. Please stay away from it, my friends. We are talking about demonic encounters here. 'And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness' (II. Cor. 11:14-15).

What A Reaction! - Andrew Strom

Totem To Temple - November 23, 2004

These words should be a wake up call to anyone who is still dabbling in this spiritually corrupt movement, for they were written by a man who wishes with all of his heart that these things were not true. They were written by a man who's heart is broken over what he sees happening. He is not a close-minded Fundamentalist who rejects the supernatural. Neither is he an old-order type Pentecostal minister who rejects the new "paradigm". He is one of them. He is a revivalist to the core.

Yet his eyes have been opened enough to see the demonic nature of what goes on under the guise of prophecy and end-time ministry. Mr. Strom hit the nail on the head when he said the Prophetic Movement is utterly dominated by a spirit of divination and fortune telling. The reason it's dominated by these kinds of spirits is because the men who founded the movement were under them from the very beginning.

It's not like they started off with the Spirit of God, but then, somehow along the way they allowed other spirits to come in and take control of their ministries. These spirits are the source of their ministries and they always have been the source. Without the power of divinationn, none of them would even have a ministry. They have always been empowered by occult spirits (though they don't realize it). Naive Christians just assumed the power they saw in these men was coming from God. But you see, sooner or later a tree will manifest what kind it is by the type of fruit it bears.

Those who are not chasing after power, those who are not intimidated or impressed by people who can manifest power, can look at a tree (minister) objectively and discern fairly quickly what kind of fruit it's bearing. They don't have to wait ten or twenty years, until it becomes so obvious you don't even need any spiritual discernment to see what kind of tree it is. These ministers have been bearing wicked fruit from the very beginning of the movement, way back in the early 80's, for they have been denying and twisting the Scripture since the movement's inception. Indeed, the entire movement was founded on blatant doctrinal error.

After publishing his initial article, many people wrote Mr. Strom and asked him to publicly name those he felt were a danger to the body of Christ. Thus, his second article. After discussing the leaders who were involved in the Whitedove Conference, he goes on to say:

"And speaking of the sad and grievous state of this movement, I wonder how many of you received the following notice from the Elijah List recently about a forthcoming 'School of the Prophets': 'God is releasing a new level of revelation that goes beyond just operating in the nine gifts of the Spirit...Sessions will cover topics like Hearing the Voice of God, Activating your Spiritual Senses, Third Heaven Experiences, and Exploring Spirit Realms.' The advertised speakers are Todd Bentley, Stacey Campbell, Larry Randolph, Paul Keith Davis, and Bobby Conner.

Now, I have come across Todd Bentley's teachings on 'How To Visit The Third Heaven' before, and I tell you, it is nothing less than 'Guided Visualization' taken straight out of the New Age movement. Nothing less and nothing more. It is exactly the same. And I want you to know that if you attend these kinds of things, or allow these men to 'guide' you or lay hands upon you, then you are opening yourself up to all kinds of spirits and demonic counterfeits. As I have stated before, this movement has absolutely no discernment at all. It has sunk into such deception that it's leaders are opening people up to all kinds of demonic experiences on a daily basis. It has no idea that it is even doing it. It behaves exactly like a movement that has been 'given over to deception' by God...

...It is with great sadness that I make the above points. I have refrained from saying such things in the past, but I can no longer do so, because untold people are being spiritually damaged by what is going on. Please understand my heart in this. For the same reason I also need to warn you about another 'prophetess' who is often featured on the Elijah List. Her name is Jill Austin and I have personally witnessed her ministry in action. I would describe it as one of the most disturbing (by far) meetings that I have ever been in. There was definitely a strange 'power' operating, but it certainly did not seem like God to me. She is also an expert at 'hyping' an audience. Please be very careful in such environments, my friends. You can end up taking part in things that you would never normally do, just because you are part of a large crowd.

Sadly, there seems to be many other ministries in this movement involved in a similar deception. In fact, I hate to say it, but a general rule might be that if someone is featured on the Elijah List, there has to be at least an 80% chance that their ministry is 'off' in some major way. I will say just one more thing about the Elijah List. I am convinced that they will one day give account to God for taking upon themselves the name 'Elijah' and then doing what they have done with it. Literally, by their own words they will be judged.

Leaving The Prophetic Movement - Part 2

Andrew Strom

It's important to note that Mr. Strom is not the kind of person who goes around naming publicly those he feels are in error. These comments are a departure from his normal approach to ministry. There is no doubt that saying what he said brought him no pleasure, but instead, great heartache. Still, for the safety of the rest of the Body of Christ, he felt compelled to name the religious leaders who pose a serious spiritual threat to the Church.

It's too bad he waited until the occult nature of this movement became so obvious a child could detect it before deciding to sound the alarm. Had he spoken up earlier, many who are now steeped in a delusion they will never get free from, might have been saved from it.

Rotten Roots

In an article entitled, "Kansas City's Lost Revival", Mr. Strom goes through the history of the Prophetic Movement. His whole point is to let the reader know that it was originally of God, but somehow it got derailed in the early 90's. His account leaves much to be desired in the way of objectivity, for since he is convinced this movement was started by God, he presents its history from that angle. Thus, he tends to leave out a lot of relevant information—information that would clearly show the occult nature of this movement from it's very beginning. He says:

"For the critics who have always written off the whole Prophetic Movement as 'false' and counterfeit, they need to remember that the whole point of this movement at the start was fasting, prayer and revival...This was just the start of a whole series of incredible events that showed that God was restoring the 'Prophetic' ministry to the church. It is very clear to me that the major 'foundations' of today's Prophetic movement, and the great explosion that we have seen in the Prophetic ministry over the last 20 years, stem directly back to Kansas City. This was the founding movement, the watershed-event that God used to kick-start the whole thing in modern times. And it was supposed to lead to all-out Revival."

Mr. Strom says the start of the Prophetic Movement stems directly back to Kansas City. This was the founding movement, the water-shed event that kick-started the whole thing in modern times. He reminds people like me that the whole point of the movement at the start was fasting, prayer and revival.

If his assessment is correct about Kansas City being the beginning of the current Prophetic Movement, then his assertion that it was originally a movement about fasting and praying for revival is totally false. The very foundation of the Kansas City Fellowship—out of which the now-infamous "Kansas City Prophets" emerged—was much more than a movement seeking revival through prayer and fasting. It was a movement that from its very inception was viewed as a catalyst to change the entire structure of the Church. Mr. Strom continues by saying that:

"A lot of people have heard of the 'Kansas City prophets', though some may have a rather negative reaction to that phrase. People associate something unsavory with it. But the origins of that movement are far from unsavory. In fact, I believe that God wanted to do something very powerful in Kansas City that has now been 'lost' for over a decade...In late 1982 a young preacher by the name of Mike Bickle shifted to Kansas City to begin a work here, following several powerful prophecies that he should do so (he had been pastoring in St. Louis up to this point)...

...Just before arriving in Kansas City he had the most powerful visitation from God that he had ever experienced, where a holy presence filled the room and he heard what he described as 'the audible voice of God'. He was literally trembling under the fear of the Lord. He had never experienced anything like it in his life. During this visitation God told him that there would be 'four standards' upon which the work in Kansas City was to be built. These were: (1) Night and day prayer; (2) Holiness of heart; (3) Unwavering faith; and (4) Extravagant giving to the poor...

...He was also told that this work would 'touch the ends of the earth' but that he must guard against those who would try to 'tone it down' in any way. The Lord also placed a very strong emphasis on one particular statement that He made that day: 'I am going to change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the earth in one generation'".

Mr. Strom assures us that the origins of the Prophetic Movement were not unsavory, and that God wanted to do something "very powerful" in Kansas City. This is far from accurate. The beginnings of the movement in Kansas City were very unsavory, as we shall soon see.

In Mr. Strom's account, he admits the reason Mike Bickle moved to Kansas City in the first place was because of a prophecy he received. Nothing more is said about this prophecy or about the person who gave it. After Mike accepts the prophecy as being from the Lord and begins his move to Kansas City, then he has a direct encounter with (what he believes to be) the Lord Himeslf.

Please notice that while the prophecy which was instrumental in Mike's original move is only mentioned in passing, Mike's supernatural personal encounter with the Lord is given great attention by Mr. Strom. This is because he wants to leave us with the impression that Mike was being led directly by God from the very beginning. But the truth is, he was being led by the direction of a self-proclaimed prophet.

According to his own testimony, Mr. Bickle says he grew up in Kansas City and pastored in St. Louis from 1976 to 1982. In June of 1982 a "prophet" who Mike had never met, walked into his church and gave him directional prophecy about how the Lord was going to redirect his path. The prophet told him God was sending him in a "new direction" (Prophetic History; p. 8; Spring 1986). Mike soon came to believe that this new direction was to be a move to Kansas City. Following a world tour in September, in which he felt a confirmation that God was inviting him to help begin a world-wide movement, this same "prophet" met with him again in October of 1982 and delivered the following four points concerning the new movement he was starting:

1. “...multitudes of young people will rally around this movement…”

2. “...full manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit...”

3. “...a false prophet will arise in your midst...”

4. “...there will be those who will rise up against this movement…”

Mike arrived in Kansas City in November of 1982 and formed the Kansas City Fellowship with the belief that he was beginning a "special movement" that would touch the ends of the earth. It seems that Bob Scott, his brother-in-law and associate who moved from St. Louis with him, introduced the concept of a "new order" of believers in December of 1982. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Mr. Bickle started embracing "Kingdom Now" theology because there are conflicting accounts regarding what was believed, when it was believed, and by whom, in those early days.

However, there is one historical fact that reveals Mr. Bickle's theological views at this time—a fact that Mr. Strom never mentions. The fact is that Mr. Bickle was not the pastor of just any old Evangelical church. He was the pastor of a "Covenant" church, which was part of a network of churches overseen by a British "apostle" named Bryn Jones. Bryn Jones is to this day a prominent leader in British "Restoration" circles who openly advocates the establishment of God's kngdom on earth now, through political means.

Thus, Mr. Bickle had already been exposed to Kingdom Now theology to some degree, even before he encountered the "prophet" who told him God has chosen him to start a new, end-time movement that would "touch the ends of the earth". After he was told he would be used to "change the understanding and expression" of Christianity all over the world, it's hard to believe he didn't view himself as the vessel God was going to use to establish His earthly kngdom in our day.

You see, it's very important that we have all the historical details about the beginnings of this movement. When we are only presented with half the facts it's easy to come to a wrong conclusion. But when all the facts are presented, a totally different picture begins to emerge.

According to Mr. Strom, Mike was just your average Evangelical pastor who was being faithful to his ministry when God called him out of the blue to begin a great end-time prophetic work that would eventually benefit the entire body of Christ. But when all the facts are given we see a very different picture emerging. What you really have is a brilliant and talented individual who had already been exposed to the concepts and doctrines of Restorationism. This means he was already actively seeking to establish God's kngdom on earth before the return of the Lord.

In the midst of all this, he encounters an unknown, self-proclaimed "prophet" named Augustine Acala, who tells him he has been chosen by God to raise up a new movement which will touch the ends of the earth. Then he encounters God Himself, who tells him he will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.

We may never know just how much Kingdom Now theology Mr. Bickle had embraced by the time he started KCF. But one thing is clear: that theology began to be publicly preached and accepted just a few months later, with the arrival of another "prophet" named Bob Jones. Ironically, when Mr. Bickle first met Bob Jones, he was convinced that he was the false prophet, predicted to rise in their midst in Augustine's prophecy. Mr. Bickle recalls:

“...So Bob Jones comes in and of course, I was looking for a false prophet and he looked like one to me. I’d never seen one, but he looked as close as I could come up with. And anyway, the guy comes in feeling the oil and feeling the wind. ‘Uh huh, uh huh, this is it, this is it.’ And I remember his first words, as he goes, ‘I’ve seen you.’ And I said, ‘And I’ve seen you.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I thought you probably would.’ And what I meant was that I had a prophecy about a false man that was coming.

Bob said, ‘The Lord told me in September, ‘82, I would sit around the communion table of this group, and they would accept me in their midst.’ Because Bob had a long history of rejection over a number of years-- ‘cause every time he prophesied, something would happen...‘cause most of them were negative--they threw him out as being in the occult and to putting curses on people. He said, ‘Because they rejected me many places and the Lord has shown me many times, and He (God) said this, this group that was yet to come, He said they would never, ever reject me.’ He said, ‘This is my family ‘till the end'.’

And I thought, ‘He's got to be the false prophet for sure.’ Any guy that prophesies that I’m going to accept him, he is for sure the false prophet. So I was settled then. So I knew instantly, the first minute he prophesied his acceptance; so I knew he was the false prophet--no question in my mind.”

Remembering Our History; p.6-7

& Prophetic History; p.14

Mr. Bickle should have stayed with his original gut feeling about Bob Jones. But after seeing the power this man could display, and after hearing about his many visions, dreams and supernatural experiences, he changed his mind and accepted him as a true prophet. Again, Mr. Bickle recalls:

...[Our] history is deeply tied up, in a human sense, to Bob Jones. And I believe that God’s goodness towards us, giving us this history, began when the Lord separated Bob Jones many, many years ago. His purpose for this people, in a human sense, had some of it’s roots back in the hills of Arkansas when Bob was, ah, a young boy...

...And the reason I get talking about Bob--Bob is so ‘integral’ in the first 18 months of our history, because the Lord ordained it. There’s nobody in the natural that had a more ‘integral’ role in establishing the foundations in that kind of prophetic way than Bob. And all of his weaknesses and all of his mistakes and all of his other things that are bad, (cause I got to balance this thing out to keep him humble), the Lord still used him very distinct from anything I’ve ever heard of or seen, or boy, I tell you, it was totally bizarre, and most of those events run over an 18-month period...

...Because the Lord told Bob that he was to come to help establish clarity and faith in the hearts of those young people so that when they believed, then there would be a whole new ability for the Lord to work in our midst. Well, this one brother comes to me in January, 1983, and he begins to tell me about Bob Jones...And on March 7, 1983--’cause I remember the day because it was, it became a very dear day to at least several of us, as the day when the Lord brought Bob into our midst..."

Taped Message - Overview of Our Prophetic History

Mike Bickle - May 1989

& Remembering Our History; p.6

It's important that we know this little piece of history. In June of 1982 Mike is told through prophecy to go in a new direction. In November of 1982 he starts the Kansas City Fellowship. In March of 1983—just 4 months later—the "prophet" Bob Jones shows up. For the next year and a half he dazzles the fellowship with his miracles and visions and literally imparts to them his revelation of a new breed of end-time ministers who will be super-anointed, practically immortal, and will usher in the Kingdom of God.

Not many people know the history of the man who set the vision of the Kansas City Fellowship, and thus, the whole Prophetic Movement. Not many know that this man spent over 20 years in complete abandonment to sin: alcoholism, street-fighting, barroom brawls, chasing women, gambling, liquor smuggling, and self-acknowledged demon possession. He testified that when he got drunk the demons just took him over and he became possessed. He also said he didn't have any trouble seeing demons. He said he knew the demons real well because he used to party with them out in the beer joints.

Indeed, he became so possessed he ended up in a mental institution. While there, he supposedly heard Jesus tell him (concerning twelve people he hated and bore a grudge against) that he should either kill them or forgive them. Fortunately for them, he decided to forgive them. Soon after this he was released from the institution.

The next thing you know he has become a "prophet" of God. Here is a man who goes from seeing demons regularly, to suddenly seeing angels and having strange nightly visions and out-of-body experiences. At that time, Mr. Bickle estimated that he normally got five to ten visions a night and saw angels ten to fifteen times a week, and had been doing so since 1974. If accurate, this translates to a minimum of 27,375 visions over a fifteen year period, in addition to the 7,800 angelic visitations thrown in for good measure. This totals to more supernatural experiences than all the men of the Bible put together!

You don't even need spiritual discernment to understand that Bob Jones is a man who has a spirit of divination and fortune-telling. He can see the spiritual realm with his physical eyes. His hands turn different colors when he gets in the anointing or around certain kinds of spirits. He can smell demons with his physical nose—and on and on it goes. Thus, the whole prophetic "tree" was rotten from the roots up! Moreover, the fruit it bore was evil from the very beginning. The problem was that everyone wanted to believe it was of God.

In addition, these men are blatant liars and deceivers. They have used every trick in the book to cover and hide the evil fruit they have been producing from the very beginning. They have used veiled (prophetic) death threats against those who disagreed with them or exposed them, and they have employed deceitfulness and outright lying to swallow up local fellowships.

Prophesies they made, but which never came true, were explained away or blamed on the unbelief of those who were the recipients of those prophesies. In one instance there was a prophecy over a man named Tim Golden, and the prophecy said he would become a famous end-time minister.

However, two weeks later Tim was killed in an automobile accident. Thus, the prophecy was edited out of the tape. This kind of fruit was evident from the very beginning, yet Mr. Strom says the movement was birthed by the Holy Spirit. He says God wanted this movement to lead to all-out revival. He goes on to explain that:

"[It] was supposed to lead to all-out Revival. But sadly, about 8 years later, it all came apart in a terrible spiritual "train-wreck". I am not going to dwell on the reasons, or apportion blame in any particular direction. (By this time a number of well- known prophets had been involved for some years). But suffice it to say that there were some crucial mistakes made and things began to spin very badly out of control. Some even say a 'spirit of divination' entered in after about 1986, and many people began to be deeply hurt and wounded by this movement.

The 'Kansas City prophets' (as they came to be called) ended up being featured in a very negative light in Charisma magazine (-with 'front cover' exposure) and a Kansas City pastor circulated a very damning report about them all over town. One major prophet, feeling rejected, committed a serious indiscretion and was forced out. Others were simply asked to leave town. The whole 'prophetic' side of the ministry seemed to blow apart. (-This was around 1991). The prophets scattered everywhere.

It truly was a disaster. Not just for the Prophetic movement, but for the Church as a whole. For I am convinced that what God wanted to raise up out of Kansas City was a prophetic voice to call the Laodicean church to repentance before it was too late (-particularly in America). That was the ultimate goal. (There were prophecies referring to this). But all that we are left with now is a hollow shell. And I am convinced that this "train-wreck" affected more than just Kansas City. I believe it greatly impacted the entire Prophetic movement for the worse. Today we see the results all around us.”

Mr. Strom admits that by 1990 some "crucial mistakes" had been made and "things began to spin very badly out of control". He admits that many people began to be deeply hurt and wounded" by the movement. He even admits that the movement was being accused of allowing a "spirit of divination" to enter it around 1986. Yet he does not choose to reveal any of the details surrounding this manifestation of bad fruit. The fact is, the "spirit of divination" was part of the Prophetic Movement from the very beginning because one of its founding fathers (Bob Jones) is and was totally under the control of that demon.

Mr. Strom also mentions a "very damning report" that was circulated by a Kansas City pastor. He never says whether or not he believes the report—he just mentions it in passing. This is understandable because that report shows very clearly the rotten roots of this prophetic tree. And it wasn't just any old pastor who produced it. The man's name is Ernest Gruen, and he was well known and well respected in Kansas Cit at that time. Indeed, he was one of the fathers of the Charismatic Movement in that whole area.

The reason his report was so "damning" is because it was absolutely factual. It was painstakingly compiled over a number of months from thousands of teaching documents, books, and taped messages of the leaders of the Kansas City Fellowship. It also included dozens of eye-witness accounts from former members of KCF, as well as testimonies from pastors of other churches in that area who had their churches stolen out from under them by the under-handed tactics of Mike Bickle and his new breed of prophets. The reason it was so damning is because it revealed the wicked fruit of the Kansas City Fellowship from its very inception. Also, it showed that Mike Bickle was a dishonest liar who was overtaken by delusions of grandeur, which played to his desire to be someone great in God's kingdom. It's no wonder Mr. Strom doesn't say much about that report!

Producing his very "damning report" on the false doctrines and practices of KCF was not Mr. Gruen's first course of action. As early as 1984 he had been in contact with the KCF leadership regarding his concerns. After making several attempts to bring correction, once in private with Mr. Bickle and twice with a group of KCF leaders, Mr. Gruen finally realized that he was being ignored and that Mr. Bickle had no intention of taking him seriously. He then decided to make his concerns public by telling them to the Church, as instructed in Matthew chapter eighteen.

He did this in January of 1990. After giving his now famous sermon, "Do We Keep Smiling and Say Nothing?", he sent a recording of the message to hundreds of pastors across the nation. Stung by Mr. Gruen's sermon, Mr. Bickle wrote an "open letter" on January 22, 1990, responding to the charges. The response was basically that Mr. Gruen didn't understand KCF's church structure, nor did he understand the nature of their prophetic ministries. Bickle also claimed that most of Gruen's message was not based on factual information and that the rest of it was colored and seriously misrepresented the truth.

It was this outrageous behavior on the part of Mike Bickle that prompted Mr. Gruen and his staff to put together that "very damning" 223 page document, which consisted of ministry tape transcripts, writings of KCF leaders, and personal testimonials of former KCF members and area ministers. Again, copies of this document were distributed nationally.

At this point Mr. Bickle saw the handwriting on the wall and went into damage control mode. He agreed with Mr. Gruen to a July meeting with a large group of other prominent members of the Charismatic movement from across the theological spectrum, in order to sort out the whole mess. But before the meeting took place, John Wimber, head of the Vineyard Movement, offered his services as the sole mediator between Gruen and Bickle. This was soon followed by a surprise announcement that Mr. Bickle and his associates had agreed to submit themselves to his oversight. Thus, in June of 1990, Mr. Bickle submitted his church to the covering of John Wimber. By 1991 he had fully joined the Vineyard Association and had renamed his church "Kansas City Metro Vineyard Fellowship". Mr. Wimber then took the KCF ministry on a world tour and promoted the prophets and their doctrines worldwide under the umbrella of the Vineyard Movement.

While most of this information was made public at the time, what was not made public was that the leadership of KCF had already been involved with Mr. Wimber and his Vineyard churches for over a year before Gruen released his tape, and then his report. Mr. Wimber had already received Paul Cain as the greatest prophet living today and had required all Vineyard pastors to sit under the teaching of the prophets from Kansas City. He was therefore, the least qualified person on the planet to mediate the issues. But since everything was done so fast and Mr. Gruen was caught by surprise, he agreed to let Mr. Wimber take the situation out of his hands and the original meeting with the panel of ministers was canceled.

In January of 1994 the "Toronto Blessing" broke out at the Toronto Vineyard church in Canada. It was vigorously supported by Mr. Bickle's church and in 1995, John Arnott, pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard, visited the Kansas City Metro Vineyard Fellowship.

By 1996, Mr. Wimber was forced to take steps to resolve the ongoing criticism about the increasingly bizarre manifestations at the Toronto Vineyard. He decided to disfellowship the Toronto church from the Vineyard Association. Mr. Bickle disagreed with this action and decided to take his group out of the covering of the Vineyard Association. He renamed his church again, this time calling it "Metro Christian Fellowship", which is its current name.

In September of 1999, Mr. Bickle started a new ministry called "International House of Prayer" (IHOP). In January of 2000, he handed the pastorate of Metro Christian Fellowship over to Floyd McClung, former YWAM international director, so he could concentrate on his vision for IHOP and other Shiloh Ministries, all of which are included under his umbrella organization, "Friends Of The Bridegroom Ministry" (FOTB).

From his early years ministering in a small, Covenant-type church, through his years as the leader of the Kansas City Fellowship, and continuing up to this present moment as leader of the now famous IHOP movement, Mike Bickle has been involved with, and has been propagating teachings that are contrary to the Word of God. He has been and continues to be, engaged in an effort to establish God's kngdom before and without the literal return of Jesus.

Many of the central figures of the Prophetic Movement—Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, Paul Cain, John Paul Jackson, Rick Joyner, Paul Keith Davis, Jim Goll, etc,—originated in Kansas City and were heavily involved with the deceiving spirits which are now being manifested so clearly. Unfortunately, because they were deceived, they had no idea the "spirit" that's been guiding them and empowering them all these years is not the Holy Spirit. They have no idea that they have spent the last 20 years transferring wicked religious spirits and spirts of divination to the body of Christ.

Today there are a multitude of self-proclaimed "prophets" ministering under this same spirit. Some of them—like Kim Clement, Todd Bentley, Shawn Bolz, Jill Austin, Bill Hamon and Lou Engle, just to name a few—have become well known. Others are working their way up the religious ladder, trying to get to a place of recognition. All of them are propagating a Counterfeit Triumphalism. Under the guise of inspired prophecy, they are spreading a deadly blend of Dominion Theology, Kingdom Now Theology, Restorationism, Reconstructionism, Word of Faith teachings, as well as other errors carried over from the Shepherding movement in the 1970's and some of the errors that came out of the Latter Rain movement of the 1950's.

If you listen to these people long enough you will become convinced that we are on the verge of experiencing the great end-time revival and last-days harvest. You will also become convinced that we are seeing the restoration of the "five-fold" ministry, which will perfect the Church. Instead of listening to what they say they are doing, start looking at what these people are actually doing. Jesus said a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit and the whole Prophetic Movement is a corrupt tree. It's rooted in Satanic manifestations, false and untestable prophesies, and many false doctrines—all of which are designed to lead the unsuspecting believer into a spiritual relationship with a counterfeit Christ.

There's no doubt this movement has attracted many sincere believers, so we are not condemning everyone who is, or has ever been involved with it. What we are saying is that the movement itself was birthed by the False Prophet—and only God knows how many sincere believers have opened themselves up to the many evil spirits that run rampant in that thing.

Spiritual Famine

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

Amos 8:12‑13

The prophet Amos predicted a time would come when, among God's very own people, there would be a famine of hearing His word. When Amos said there would be a famine of the word of the Lord, he was not referring to a famine of the written Word (the Bible). Nor was he referring to a famine of the rhema word, which God speaks to us personally. There will always be Bibles around and God will never stop leading and guiding His people individually.

What Amos was talking about was the "prophetic" word of the Lord. He was referring to the word that comes to whole segments of the Church, or to the entire Church, to correct it and enlighten it. He was talking about the prophetic word which comes to help the Church understand exactly what God is doing and why He is doing it. He was talking about the word that comes to protect the Church from deception.

Please notice that God said He was going to send this famine of hearing. He didn't say Satan was going to do it. He said He was going to do it. Are we even capable of understanding the implications of such a statement? There are only two possible ways to send a famine of "hearing" upon a people. Either God removes from them the capacity to hear, or else He limits His own speaking to the bare minimum. In either case, the prophetic word becomes extremely rare. In fact, it will be so rare, people will wander from sea to sea and from the north to the south, trying to find someone who has the true "word of the Lord". It will be so rare, many who are searching for it will never find it and they will "faint for thirst".

The day Amos predicted has arrived. Ninety-five percent of what passes itself off as "prophetic" in this hour does not proceed from the Spirit of God. It is not the true word of the Lord. Rather, it's a "word" that's proceeding either from the desires of people's minds and hearts, or from the mouth of the False Prophet. Very few of today's ministers—especially those who claim to be apostles and prophets—have any idea what God is really doing. Therefore, they cannot possibly have the genuine word of the Lord.

Over the last 20 years, the message of the vast majority of those who have claimed to be speaking the "word of the Lord" has been the same message the Prophetic Movement has been propagating since it's inception. They are all prophesying the same thing—a soon-coming (world-wide) revival which will dethrone Satan and usher in the Kingdom of God.

This alone should have been enough to cause anyone with an ounce of discernment to reject these people as true apostles or prophets, for such an idea stands in direct opposition to everything Jesus and His apostles taught about the last days. For instance, when talking about what will happen in these days, Jesus said the following to his disciples:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

Luke 21:25‑31

The Lord described many different "signs" that would come to pass in the closing hours of this age. Notice what He told us to do when we see these signs beginning to come to pass. He said "lift up your heads" and know that your redemption (ie.; His return and the establishment of His kingdom) "draweth neigh". Again, He said when we see these signs we should "know" that the "Kingdom of God is nigh at hand".

He never said that when we see these signs we should start looking for a great end-time revival to sweep the planet. He never said that when we see these signs we should look for the Church to rise up in power, dethrone Satan, and establish the kingdom for Him. He said we should realize that the end of this present age has arrived and that He is about to return personally to destroy all wickedness and rebellion and establish His everlasting kingdom.

Does the reader realize just how few of the Lord's people are actually doing what He said? A large portion of the Church, instead of looking for Jesus to personally return and set up His everlasting kingdom on this earth, are waiting to be whisked off to a 7-year banquet in the spirit realm. Another huge portion of the Church is attempting to establish Jesus' kingdom now, before He returns. Very few are actually doing what Jesus told us to do—which is to lift up our heads and realize He is coming back very soon to establish His kingdom.

It's incredible how out-of-tune today's believers are with the God they claim to serve. Even now, God is beginning to judge the nations. In the not-too-distant future His undiluted wrath will be poured out upon them. And what are we doing? We are frantically trying to save the nations!

Jesus is getting ready to return in glory and personally smash the nations into little pieces with a rod of iron. And what are we doing? We are running to and fro, prophesying that these same nations will experience revival and will be used mightily by God to establish His kingdom!

If you want to know what will be coming out of the mouth of the False Prophet in these days, just look at what came out of the mouth of God's true prophets in the Old Testament Church, then imagine the opposite. Look at the kinds of messages which came from the mouths of God's true prophets and you will see that they were very negative. They had to be negative because they were the only ones who were hearing the true word of the Lord. Everyone else had become spiritually deaf and blind. They were walking in deception because of their persistent rebellion and spiritual pride. Thus, the only "word" God could send them was a word of rebuke and warning. The only message He could send was a call to repent—and the only ones who could hear that word were the prophets.

As you study the ministry of God's true prophets (the ones found in Scripture), you will notice the same progression in their messages. First, they exposed the sin or rebellion or pride of both the people and the leaders of Israel. Then they called them to repent of these things with all their hearts and turn away from them. Then they warned both the people and the leaders that if they didn't repent, God would be forced to send terrible calamities upon the nation. If they still refused to repent after experiencing these initial judgments, God would then despise them and utterly destroy them.

After warning the people that calamity and judgment were coming, they would then describe (predict) what these judgments would be, and in some instances, when they would come. They would also describe (predict) how God would not destroy the whole nation, but would save a remnant. Then they would describe (predict) how God would regather the nation in the distant future and bring them back to their own land.

While these prophets did predict the future, predicting the future was not their main function. Their main function was to hear the word that no one else in the Church could hear because they had become deaf. True prophets have always been preachers of righteousness, and especially of repentance.

Now, compare what these true prophets said with what today's so-called prophets are saying. All of them are singing the same false tune. They talk about how much God loves us, about how much power and glory He is going to give to us, and about how there's a mighty revival just around the corner. Everything they predict is of a positive nature. Most of it is just religious babble about how we are going to get wealth and religious fame—and that's just what greedy, selfish, self-centered American Christians want to hear!

You see, the message of today's so-called prophets is the same as the message of the false prophets in the Old Testament Church—peace and safety. Just like today's prophets are doing, those prophets said God loved His people too much to ever allow them to be destroyed. They prophesied success in battle. They prophesied that the riches of the nations would be given to them. They prophesied that Israel would always be the head and not the tail. Sound familiar? Moreover, just like today's prophets are doing, those prophets predicted all these wonderful things while the Church was in a backslidden state and serving other gods!

Go through the Old Testament and see just how many thousands of people there were in the Church who claimed to be prophets. Yet, at any given time you will see that the ratio between true and false prophets was anywhere from 100 -1 to 400 - 1. In other words, at any given point in its history, you couldn't find more than one or two genuine prophets in the entire Old Testament Church. And there were some periods when there weren't any at all!

However, at any given point in its history you could find multitudes of people in the Old Testament Church who claimed to be prophets. Now if that was the ratio between true and false prophets in the Old Testament Church, imagine what the ratio will be during the last days. What was it Jesus said?

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold...For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

Matthew 24:11‑12 & 24-25

Exactly where do you suppose these many false prophets are right now? And exactly who are the many that will be deceived by them and follow them? Are these many false prophets arising outside the Lord's Church and leading the unsaved astray? Hardly! First of all, how can you possibly lead an unbeliever astray? The very fact that he is an unbeliever means he is already astray. You can't possibly lead someone astray who does not (and never did) know the truth. If Jesus were talking about the unsaved being led astray, He wouldn't have even bothered to warn us about them. No, dear friend; the many false prophets He warned about will arise inside the Church and they will lead many who call themselves "Christians" away from the truth.

Well then, in which part of the Church will these many false prophets arise? Will they rise up among Fundamentalist churches? The answer is No. It's well known that Fundamentalists don't accept those who claim to be modern-day prophets because they think the ministry of the prophet ceased, along with all the other gifts of the Spirit in the First Century.

Well then, what's left? What's left is the Pentecostal/Charismatic portion of the Church—and that's exactly where these many false prophets have arisen. If it's in the Pentecostal/Charismatic wing of the Church that these false prophets will arise, then who do you suppose the "many" are that will be deceived by them? That's right! The many Jesus referred to are today's Pentecostal and Charismatic believers!

As you look around and see the thousands of people who claim to be prophets right now, ask yourself a simple question: How many of them are sounding this alarm? How many of them are giving forth this warning? Which of them are telling Pentecostal and Charismatic believers that they should be extra careful about who they accept as a prophet because the Lord warned that in these days many false prophets will arise among them?

Which of today's prophets are telling Pentecostal and Charismatic believers to watch and be sober because many of them will end up deceived? How many of these people are encouraging God's people to discern and judge what they are teaching and predicting? How many of these so-called prophets are telling God's people to be good "Bereans" and make sure everything they are teaching and prophesying lines up with the written Word? How many of them are exposing and denouncing the blatant error of the many false teachers who minister in the Pentecostal/Charismatic wing of the Church?

If these self-proclaimed prophets were true prophets, the first thing they would do is denounce the whole idea that we deserve to be happy, healthy, rich and influential. A true prophet would be denouncing today's "prosperity" gospel and all those who preach it, especially Kenneth Copeland. They would be denouncing the blasphemy that pours from this man's mouth day in and day out. They would be warning God's people to avoid this heretic like the black plague, for his "meat" (teaching) will destroy millions of people spiritually, just as sure as the black plague destroyed millions of people physically.

If today's self-proclaimed prophets were true prophets, their main burden and message would be exposing the sin of God's people. They would be calling the people to repent of these things—beginning with the leaders. They would publicly expose and denounce those leaders who have proven themselves to be false, one of whom would certainly be Benny Hinn.

If they were true prophets, they would be exposing the worldliness and spiritual pride of those in the Pentecostal/Charismatic wing of the Church. But instead, the only people they denounce are those (mostly Fundamentalists) who refuse to listen to their babble about the coming revival and the "new paradigm". The only ones they really denounce are those who refuse to accept them as genuine prophets and who refuse to jump into their polluted "river".

The reason you will never hear today's apostles or prophets denounce any of their Pentecostal or Charismatic contemporaries is because they are all moving under the influence of the same Antichrist spirit and they are all preaching the same philosophy of Counterfeit Triumphalism. The same is true of most of the unknown so-called prophets (male and female) who use the Internet to propagate this same type of garbage. They too are under the influence of the False Prophet.

We need to understand that the fundamental issue we face right now is whether or not we are going to choose the Scriptural path to eternal life—which is a path of suffering and death—or whether we are going to choose one of the many alternatives Satan is offering us. To embrace the true path to life is to embrace a life of self-denial (not self-fulfillment) and suffering.

We don't gain eternal life by a once-and-done confession of faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. We don't gain it through head knowledge about God. We don't gain it by holding a doctrinally correct belief system. We don't gain it by being zapped by some new paradigm preacher or prophet. We don't get it by listening to some kind of new, super-anointed, "Christian" Rock&Roll music. We don't get it by receiving a "God Reading" from someone who is under the power of the occult. And we certainly won't get it by establishing a living relationship with another Jesus and another spirit.

The path to life is through suffering and death. Our Adamic nature, with all it's iniquity and rebellion, must go to the cross. We must learn how to lay down our own will and do only the will of our Savior—and that's a painful process. This is the path Jesus had to walk and it's the path every true child of God must walk if they expect to "enter into life". Even the planet must go down into death before it can experience resurrection

Unfortunately, today's Christians love their natural lives far too much to ever consider embracing a message of suffering and self-denial. So Satan has offered them a gospel that matches perfectly their wicked desires. They also love this world, and because they do, they reject the traditional teaching that the world will soon face destruction and upheaval the likes of which mankind has never before experienced. All this is far too negative for many of today's Christians. They don't like it and they don't want to see it happen. So Satan has given them yet another alternative which matches their wicked desires.

This alternative is being manifested in the Reconstruction and Restoration Movements, the Apostolic and Prophetic Movements, and wherever you see the Dominion/Kingdom Now theology being accepted. It's the lie that says both the nations and the planet itself can go from this age into the next age without suffering death and destruction. Moreover, Satan has given many deluded ministers supernatural power and convinced them that they can use this power to establish the Kingdom of God themselves.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Matthew 4:8‑9

We are facing the same basic test Jesus faced. Satan came to Him and said: "Look at all these kingdoms. They belong to me and they are mine to give. I know God has promised to give them to you, but you don't have to go to the Cross in order to get them. You don't have to die a horrible death in order to get them. You don't have to suffer humiliation, lose everything and have your own people reject you in order to get them. I'm offering you a short-cut. Just worship me and I'll give you these kingdoms now".

Here we have the first recorded "Kingdom Now" message, and it was preached by Satan! He told Jesus He could have the kingdom now, if He would just avoid the pain and suffering of the Cross—and today he is coming to believers with the same offer! Only this time he's not coming to us openly, like he did to Jesus. Instead, he comes to us in the name of Jesus and offers us the earthly kingdom of Jesus if we will bow down and worship him. He comes to us posing as the Holy Spirit and says: "Look, you don't have to pick up your cross and follow Jesus. You don't have to die daily. Jesus died so we could live. You don't have to suffer loss or endure chastening. Jesus became poor so you could be rich! You don't have to strive against sin and overcome it, Jesus overcame it for you. And you don't have to go through a time of world-wide destruction and devastation. Just worship me and I will give you all the power you need to subdue the kingdoms of this world right now.

Who would choose to go through a time of devastation and upheaval when all we have to do to avoid it is accept the new paradigm? Who would choose to live through the death throws of this age when all we have to do to avoid it is receive a "new" anointing that will enable us to establish the next age ourselves, just the way we like it? Who would choose to walk down a path of suffering, self-denial, rejection and loneliness in order to have eternal life when all we have to do to avoid it is have some "new paradigm" prophet lay his hands on us and "zap" that life into us?

The only difference between what Satan offered Jesus then, and what he is offering us now, is that when he played this card with Jesus, the Lord saw right though it and rejected the offer because He knew the only path to life was death. When Satan plays this same card today, Christians fall for it hook, line and sinker because they have no idea that suffering is absolutely necessary if we want to experience the things God has ordained for us in His kingdom.

One of the reasons we lack this knowledge is because we can no longer hear the true word of the Lord. We run to and fro, from one convention to another, from one end of the country to the other, but we never hear that word because God Himself has sent a famine among us. He has sent that famine because we would not respond to Him while we still had the opportunity to do so.

When He presented the true gospel to us we rejected it and chose instead to listen to another gospel; a humanistic gospel of success and self-fulfillment. A gospel which inflates the ego by telling us how wonderful we are, and how much God loves us, and how we deserve the good things both in this life and the next one as well.

When Jesus offered to give us internal power to live a holy life of separation from sin, self and the world, we rejected that power and instead went after the power Antichrist was offering. We went after the external power that would make us feel good in our bodies and enable us to fulfil all the desires of our fallen, Adamic nature.

The True Harvest

It's incredible that so many of God's people continue to believe and promote the Great Revival error, even though it opposes and denies everything Jesus and His apostles taught about the last days. You can search through the New Testament the rest of your life and you will never find a single verse that states a world-wide revival is to precede the return of the Lord. However, you will find many verses that state just the opposite—a few of which we want to look at.

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Matthew 24:21‑22

Jesus warned very clearly that in the days just prior to His return, the nations of this world would be in such an unstable and volatile political state, if He did not shorten the time "all flesh" would be destroyed, including "the elect". Far from accepting Christianity and allowing it to stabilize them, the nations will continue down their present path of self-annihilation. They will be on the verge of destroying both themselves and the entire planet just before Jesus returns. Does this teaching support or contradict the doctrine of a world-wide revival just before the Lord's return?

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they [the world] deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Matthew 24:7‑9

Here Jesus warns us that in the days prior to His return, true Christians will be hated of all nations, and that this hatred will be so intense they will "afflict" us and "kill" us. Does this teaching support or contradict the doctrine of a world-wide revival just before His return? If the reader still thinks the Great Revival doctrine is true, then you will also have to accept the fact that the nations will be embracing us and killing us at the same time! Friends, when the Lord warns that in the last days we will be afflicted and killed and hated of all nations, He means exactly what he says. Only a fool would choose to ignore His warning.

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they [all the world] worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they [all the world] worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Revelation 13:3‑4

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Revelation 11:7‑10

The apostle John was shown this last days hatred for God's people in his visions. He saw a time when the whole world would be following and worshiping the Beast (Antichrist). He also saw that, even though God intends to give the nations one last testimony through a group called the Two Witnesses, not only will the nations reject this final testimony, they will rejoice when the Beast slays those Witnesses. John watched as the bodies of these people laid in the street. He says that for three days: "...the people and kindreds and tongues and nations...shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves."

Leaving a person's body to rot in public is the ultimate demonstration of contempt for that person. Instead of embracing Christianity in the last days the nations not only reject it, they show their utter contempt for the people who are bearing that testimony by letting their bodies rot in the streets.

Not only will the nations rejoice over the death of God's Witnesses, not only will they let their bodies rot in public as a sign of utter contempt, John says they will make merry and send gifts to one another. In other words, the nations will be so relieved that God's final witness has been silenced and they are now free to live the way they want to without any interference from God or His people, they will throw a giant party! Instead of experiencing a great revival in the final hours of this age, instead of embracing Christianity on a massive scale, the nations will be overtaken by a hatred of God and of His servants and will end up killing them.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Revelation 9:17‑21

And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

Revelation 16:8‑11

As you read through the book of Revelation you see a progression of hatred coming forth against God. The nations move from a stubborn refusal to repent in chapter nine to an actual hatred and contempt in chapter eleven (which is demonstrated in the way they treat the Two Witnesses). By the time you get to chapter sixteen a fanatical hatred of God is being manifested and they are cursing Him because of what He is doing. Again, do these events support or contradict the idea of a world-wide revival just before the return of Jesus?

In another place, while again talking about the events that will happen just prior to His return, Jesus said: "...as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:37-41). Let's stop for a moment and consider just what happened in Noah's day. Noah had a message. He had a testimony. He was a witness to that generation but none repented. Nobody payed any attention to him. Life continued on for them as usual—eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day the flood started.

The Lord compares that generation (what they did) to the generation that will be alive when He returns. Just as that generation rejected and ignored the witness God had provided, so the last generation will reject and ignore the last witness of this age—and this is exactly what John saw in Revelation chapter eleven. Again, does this view support or contradict the idea of a world-wide revival just before the return of the Lord?

In another place Jesus asked His disciples a very sobering question: "...when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8)? Imagine the kind of response He would get from today's Christians if He were to ask that question of them. They would look at Him in total shock and say: "Lord, why would you ask such a strange question? Of course you will find faith on the earth! In fact, you will find more faith on the earth than ever before! Did you forget about the great revival that will be in progress when you return? Don't you remember saying the gospel will be preached in 'all the world' for a witness unto all nations? Don't you remember that your servant Joel said God would pour His Spirit out upon 'all flesh' in the last days"?

Yes indeed, the Lord's question would seem very strange to today's revivalists because they have ignored His teachings about the last days. Once we stop listening to what they say Jesus taught and start listening to what He actually taught, His question won't seem strange at all. We will see that it was a perfectly logical question, given that in the days just before His return, true faith will be rare because almost everyone will be walking in delusion.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn...

Matthew 13:30

Where ever you go people are talking about the final harvest. In addition, there are different views regarding this event. However, the only view that's valid is the one presented by Jesus Himself. When He starts teaching His disciples about this harvest, He begins by telling them a parable. In the parable, a man sowed good seed in his garden. During the night, his enemy came into that garden and sowed tares. When the servants of the Master realized what happened, they asked him if they should go and tear up the tares. His answer was no. He tells them to let both the wheat and the tares grow together until the time of the harvest. After telling the parable, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to explain its meaning.

...Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear

Matthew 13:29‑30 & 13:36‑43

Jesus said the "good seed" are the children of the kingdom, the "tares" are the children of the wicked one, the "field" is the world, and the "harvest" is the end of the world (or, the end of this present age). Notice that during the time leading up to the actual harvest, both the wheat and the tares are left alone to finish maturing. In other words, Jesus doesn't predict a mass conversion of tares into wheat. What he says is that the tares will continue to grow (mature) in wickedness and the wheat will continue to grow (mature) in righteousness. Once they have both fully matured, then the harvest can begin.

According to Jesus, which group will the reapers gather first? They will gather the tares first, then they will bind them into bundles and cast them into the flames. Here Jesus is clearly saying that the purpose of the harvest is not to turn a world full of tares (sinners) into wheat (believers). Rather, the purpose of the harvest is to "gather out of his kingdom" all things that offend and them (the tares) which do iniquity. Once again, does this view support or contradict the idea of a world-wide revival just before the return of Jesus?

It's a shame that so few of God's people have the ability to rightly divide the Scripture. There are two types of harvests referred to in the New Testament. The first type is indeed a harvest of unsaved souls into the kingdom. This kind of harvest is found in Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; and John 4:35. In each case, the ones who were ready to be harvested into the kingdom were the people of Israel. It was a harvest of Jewish souls. This harvest would eventually extend beyond the boundaries of the Jewish nation, once the original Jewish apostles were scattered throughout the then known world. This harvest started at the beginning of the Church Age and will continue—though on a much smaller scale—until the end of the Church Age.

However, there is another kind of harvest taught in the New Testament which has nothing to do with bringing souls into the kingdom. This second type of harvest is what Jesus referred to in Matthew chapter thirteen. It's a harvest of the fruit of the kingdom. It's a harvest of those souls who have accepted the gospel and have served Jesus. It's the kind of harvesting a farmer does at the end of a growing season. Once the plants have matured and ripened, it's time to harvest them. This kind of harvest has nothing to do with converting sinners. It's the kind of harvest the apostle James referred to.

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James 5:7‑8

Since the subject of this passage is the coming of the Lord, the “harvest” James is referring to is the final harvest, the one that's directly connected to the Lord's return. This is the kind of harvest we are to be looking for. This is the kind of harvest we are to be engaged in. He said that just as the husbandman must be patient the whole growing season in order to see the fruit ripen and come to maturity, so the Lord is patiently waiting for the "fruit of the earth" to ripen. Again, the fruit of the earth is not a reference to new converts. It's a reference to spiritual maturity. Thus, the teaching of James regarding the final harvest of this age is identical to what Jesus taught.

Unfortunately, since people are stuck in their religious traditions and they cannot rightly divide the Scripture, they can't see that the purpose of God at the end of this present age is very different than His purpose was at the beginning of it. They can't seem to grasp that at the beginning of this age God's emphasis was on evangelism, and that's why Jesus told the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. But at the end of this age His focus is no longer on evangelism. Rather, His focus is on the perfecting of the saints. His focus is on the cleansing work He wants to do in us.

God is not waiting for yet another revival! He's waiting for His people to bear the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22-23). He's waiting for us to come to full spiritual maturity. This whole point gets lost in today's Great Revival/Harvest error, for revivalists are defining the harvest as new converts. Thus, their whole focus ends up on creating newer and better ways to evangelize. This is contrary to what both Jesus and James taught! They both taught that the harvest has to do with the fruit of the kingdom. God is waiting for us to come to the fullness of the stature of the image of Christ.

It's very important that we understand what the true end-time harvest is all about, for you see, we (the wheat) must be made worthy to rule with Messiah in the next age—and one of the ways we are made worthy is by bearing fruit. So when we start thinking about the final harvest, God doesn't want our minds caught up in a religious fantasy. He wants them focused on the right thing. First of all, we must be sure we are a wheat and not a tare. Then we must be sure we are maturing spiritually and bringing forth fruit.

And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection

Luke 20:34‑36

In His teaching, Jesus makes it clear that we must be "accounted worthy" to obtain the world to come (the Millennium) and the (first) resurrection. And lest we think the worthiness being referred to is the worthiness that has been "imputed" to us by faith, consider carefully what this same Jesus said to the church at Sardis, through the apostle John, over 60 years later.

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Revelation 3:3‑4

Jesus said the church at Sardis had a "few names" that had not defiled their garments. He said those few people would walk with Him in white because "they are worthy" Please notice that the difference between the few that kept their garments clean and the rest which didn't, is not an issue of justification. It's an issue of sanctification. All the believers in the congregation of Sardis were justified. They all had "garments" (the imputed righteousness of Jesus). The issue was what they did with the garment Jesus provided. Most of them allowed their garments to be defiled.

The average Christian thinks that just because they are a Christian they will automatically rule with Jesus during the Millennium. Not so! Only those who are "worthy" of that honor will partake of it. That's why Jesus said only those with clean garments will walk with Him in white. Walking with Him "in white" is a reference to ruling and reigning with Him in the next age. He was warning these believers that they must overcome everything that would defile them (their garments) if they want to reign with Him after He returns.

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

II. Thessalonians 1:4‑5

And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

II. Corinthians 10:6

God wants us to judge the nations with Jesus when He returns. He wants us to destroy all unrighteousness out of the earth. He wants us to put down all rebellion and disobedience. But before we can participate in these things with the Lord, we must be made worthy. First we must be cleansed. We must have all unrighteousness purged from our own lives. We must be free of all pride, rebellion and disobedience. Only those who have allowed God to thoroughly cleanse them will in turn be accounted worthy to judge others.

This is why Paul told the Thessalonians the trials and persecution they were experiencing were a "manifest token of the righteous judgment of God"—not His judgment upon the unbelievers, but His judgment upon them. God was using persecution and temptation to judge (cleanse) His own people, so they would bear fruit and thus be accounted worthy of the kingdom. This is why he told the brethren at Corinth that God was ready to revenge all disobedience once their obedience had been fulfilled. Once God has a people who have allowed Him to cleanse and purify them, once He has a people who, as a result of that process have been conformed to the image of His Son, then He will return and judge the world. This purging work is God's focus right now. This is what He's doing.

Instead of seeing what God is doing today, and what He is allowing Satan to do, revivalists are totally focused on an unscriptural, fictitious revival. They don't even think about whether or not they are ready to meet Jesus. They just assume they are ready to meet Him. They assume that because they are saved they will automatically get all the rewards of the Scripture by grace. Thus, they see no need to actually overcome sin or keep their garments clean. As a result, they will not be prepared to meet the Lord.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

I. John 2:26‑28

John wrote an entire epistle about the dangers of Christians coming under the influence of a religious spirit—the spirit of Antichrist. At the end of his epistle he tells these brethren to "abide" in Christ so that when He appears, they will have confidence and not be "ashamed" at His coming. In other words, John is warning these brethren that if they aren't careful, if they are careless and end up coming under the influence of the spirit of Antichrist, they will not be able to abide in Christ and they will be ashamed when they stand before Him.

Now, if this was what the Holy Spirit was saying to His people though the apostle John 1900 years ago, how much more does it apply today?! Yet the average Christian doesn't even have the capacity to understand what John said, let alone believe that what he said applies to them. If the reader doubts this, just try telling your church friends that if they don't keep their garments clean and abide in Christ, not only will they not reign with Jesus during the Millennium, they will be ashamed when He appears—and see what kind of reaction you get.

They will look at you in astonishment and say: "That's not possible! I've been made worthy by grace. I've been made spiritually clean by grace. I'm going to rule with Jesus because He is worthy and I am covered by His worthiness". Then they will then look at you (ever so sanctimoniously) and say you have been deceived. They will accuse you of trying to be "saved by works" since you don't think we automatically get everything simply by believing and accepting what Jesus has done for us. Since this is what they believe, they are wasting the time they have been given to be cleansed, transformed and bear fruit, and are instead chasing after an unscriptural religious delusion.

Once we realize this whole Revival/Harvest doctrine is an error, we will also begin to realize just how many people are now moving under the influence of the False Prophet. For the vast majority of the prophecies that are being given in this hour have to do with the coming revival/harvest. This error is only one of many ways Antichrist and the False Prophet are seducing and overcoming the saints right now. The reason we focus on this particular error so much is because it's the one that has been the most effective in deceiving the Lord's people. Most of those who are now walking under the influence of these two beasts have been seduced by this particular error. However, it is by no means the only way we can be seduced and overcome.

One of the most heart-breaking things about what's happening right now is that the average Christian has no idea the two beasts of Revelation are primarily spiritual beings. They have no idea that at this very moment these beasts are not only active in the churches, they are overcoming the vast majority of these churches! They have no idea just how much power these beasts have been granted by God. And because of all the false doctrines the people have been taught by blind and deaf religious leaders, they are not even capable of understanding (let alone believing!) that these spirits can deceive them and overcome them without their ever realizing it.

If we want our garments to be clean and white when Jesus returns, if we want to be found without spot or wrinkle, if we want to be unashamed when we stand before Him, we must learn how to recognize and overcome these two particular spirits. It's not possible to abide in Christ or remain pure if we end up coming under their influence. To remain ignorant of these two spirits and their destructive work is to insure our eventual defeat. No one who comes under their influence—either directly, or by listening to prophets and apostles who are under their influence—has any chance of ruling and reigning with Jesus Christ when He returns.

Loving The Truth

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

II. Thessalonians 2:7‑12

The above passage is one of the most frightening warnings in all of Scripture, yet the vast majority of God's people don't feel the least bit alarmed when they read it. This is because they are convinced Paul was talking about what will happen to sinners and pagans after the mythical pre-tribulation rapture. They have been taught by blind religious leaders that the "him" referred to in this passage is a human political leader who comes on the scene (after they are in heaven) to deceive those who are already deceived and damn those who are already damned.

It never seems to dawn on them that it would be rather pointless for Paul to warn us of a danger which couldn't possibly hurt us, since we won't even be here when it happens. And it never seems to dawn on them that it would be just as pointless to warn the unsaved that they will be deceived and damned unless they receive a love for the truth, since the unsaved couldn't receive a love for the truth even if they wanted to!

No dear friend, this warning was not written to the unsaved. Neither was it written to people who will be in heaven at this time. It was written to believers who will be living on earth when this wicked entity begins to rise in full power. Paul was telling us what will happen to us if we do not receive a love for the truth when all this begins to come to pass.

In order to understand what Paul is saying here, you must understand what he means when he says: "...they received not the love for the truth that they might be saved". If you assume he was talking about unbelievers refusing to receive the gospel, you will miss the whole point of the warning. Being "saved" in this passage is not a reference to unbelievers coming to salvation. It is a reference to believers being saved from destruction.

God foresaw that in these days He would be pleading with Christians to receive a love for the truth because they won't possess it. They don't have it because they have been taught for the past 100 years that because they are saved by grace they can love the world and the things of the world. They have been taught that because they have been saved by grace they can walk in the flesh and live unrighteous lives, yet still go to heaven when they die. They have been taught this in spite of the fact that the Scripture explicitly denies it.

For you were called to freedom brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another...But I say walk in the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh...now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

NAS Galatians 5:13,16,19-21

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

I. Corinthians 6:9-10

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Ephesians 5:5-6

The result of not heeding the teaching of God's Word is that most of today's Christians are living unrighteous lives. This makes them easy prey for the one whose coming "...is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness...".

What people don't realize is that the entity Paul referred to in II. Thessalonians Two has been granted authority by God to deceive anyone who lives in unrighteousness or practices iniquity—including Christians. So it's imperative that we depart from all iniquity in these days, and in order to depart from iniquity we must receive a love for the truth because it's the truth that exposes error and deception. It's the truth that creates in us the desire to live righteously. Receiving a love for the truth will keep us from being deceived by the strong delusion we are now facing.

Unfortunately, most of today's Christians have pleasure in unrighteousness. In addition, they have been taught that they can practice iniquity and still go to heaven, so there is no incentive for them to turn away from it. There's no incentive to resist and overcome the sin that so easily besets them. Since they don't realize they must receive the love of the truth in order to stay out of deception, and since they take pleasure in unrighteousness, they are destined to be deceived, overcome and destroyed.

The most frightening aspect of all this is that they will not even realize they have been deceived until it's too late. They will go through the rest of their lives assuming they are safe and secure in the arms of Jesus. They will also think they are doing great things for God and they will be expecting to hear Him say: "Well done good and faithful servant" when they die. But in reality, they will hear just the opposite.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 7:21‑23

What in the world goes through the minds of God's people when they read this warning? Exactly who do we think Jesus is talking about? Isn't it obvious He's referring to Christians? Who else calls Jesus, Lord? Who else has enough faith in His name and the power of His blood to cast out demon spirits?

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.

Luke 13:25‑27

Who else but believers eat and drink in His presence? Where else but in the streets of the New Jerusalem does Jesus teach? What kind of stupidity causes us to apply these warnings to unsaved pagans, or those in other religions, or even to fake Christians? Can a fake Christian give forth a genuine prophecy? The Lord wasn't warning unsaved pagans or unsaved religionists or fake Christians that they will be cast away from Him if they practice iniquity. He was warning us that we would be cast away from Him if we continue to practice iniquity. This is why, in another place, He gave us yet another warning.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Matthew 7:24‑27

The contrast in this parable is not between a person who is saved and one who is lost. The contrast is between two people who are saved. The one believes what Jesus said but doesn't do what he said. The other one believes and obeys what Jesus said. The "sayings" of Jesus are His teachings, which if obeyed, will cause us to stop practicing iniquity. Thus, we will never fall. Those who hear but don't obey what Jesus said will continue to live in unrighteousness and eventually they will fall—and great will be that fall.

The reason God saved you and I, dear reader, is so that we would learn how to depart from iniquity, so that when we stand before Jesus Christ at His coming, we will not be ashamed and we will not be cast away from Him. This is precisely why the apostle Paul wrote things like:

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Romans 6:12‑19

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Titus 2:11‑14

Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

II. Timothy 2:19

The whole purpose of being born again is so we can be cleansed of all unrighteousness and come forth in the image of Jesus Christ. When we come to Christ, His blood cleanses us from all our past (not future) sin. Then, after we are saved, we must learn how to "depart from" the iniquity that's still in us. This is why we are given the Holy Spirit. He comes in order to teach us how to sanctify (cleanse) our thoughts, motives, desires and deeds from all iniquity. Any gospel, any doctrine, any teaching, any revelation, any prophecy that denies this truth or hinders that sanctifying work is a Satanic lie.

This is why we can boldly proclaim that the gospel which is being preached all over this planet by most Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic preachers is another gospel, for it tells people once they have been saved they can never lose that salvation, regardless of what they do. Telling people this is the same as telling them they can live in unrighteousness and practice iniquity the rest of their lives and still go to heaven when they die. It's another gospel; and the reason so many people are accepting it is because they have pleasure in unrighteousness and this gospel offers them both the iniquity they love and heaven to.

In order to stay out of deception in this hour we must receive a love for the truth, which teaches us how to depart from iniquity. We must receive a love for the truth about ourselves, about our true spiritual condition, for many of us are walking in delusion when it comes to where we are spiritually. If we receive a love of this kind of truth, God will be able to show us if we have any spiritual pride in our lives. He will be able to show us any unforgiveness we harbor in our hearts. He will be able to show us if we are seeking the glory and honor of men. He will be able to show us if we are serving Him for money, or for any other selfish motive. He will be able to expose the hidden iniquity of our lives so we can repent of all these things and be cleansed.

We must also receive a love for the truth that is revealed in God's Word. If we will receive this kind of love for the truth, we will stop listening to the lie that the nations are going to soon experience a revival and be saved. We will reject this error and accept what God's Word actually says—which is that the "tares" of this world are going to come to full maturity. They will become more and more vile until the cup of their iniquity is full. They will become so vile their leaders will literally go insane and will be on the verge of annihilating the entire planet when Jesus returns.

Last but not least, we must receive a love for the One who said: "I am the way, the truth and the life..." (John 14:6). We have to receive a love for Jesus that supercedes everything else. If we receive a love for Him, we will keep His commandments. If we receive a love for Him, we will follow Him wherever He goes, even into isolation, suffering and death. If we receive a love for Him, we will want to obey Him and please Him in any way we can.

If we receive a love for He who is the truth, we will love the things He loves. We will love righteousness, justice, mercy, honesty and integrity. We will seek "...those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" and set our affections "...on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2).

Chapter Index

Meat In Due Season

The Two Beasts

Last Day’s Power

The Prophetic Movement

Rotten Roots

Spiritual Famine

The True Harvest

Loving The Truth

Meat In Due Season

Matthew 24:45‑46

The Two Beasts

Last Days' Power

The Prophetic Movement

Rotten Roots

Spiritual Famine

The True Harvest

To Be Continued