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Doctrines of Demons: The Sword of Judgement (Part 5)Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines [taught by] demons... (1 Tim 4:1 NKJ)
Introduction: A Word of WarningPlease do not think of this study as some dry, dusty piece of theological scholarship with no relevance for you today! That is about as far from the facts as you could go! These men and women have their spiritual guns aimed at YOU and at ME - for we are the rebels, WE ARE THE ANTICHRIST in their eyes! We deserve nothing but to die at their hands, and they have a divine commission to do away with us, for we are standing in their way. (I hope to prove this to you, using their own quotes.) They are setting up, even right now, today, a governmental structure that they plan to impose not only upon the churches, but the entire world in time. If you do not obey your elders, you are OUT. You are a dangerous, rebellious, old-order pharisee, fit only for the dungheap. Not only that, but the hardcore leadership of this movement is, I believe, now empowered by fallen spiritual forces so powerful that - if we did not know God - we should tremble! We cannot take this lightly, brothers and sisters. We cannot pass this off as scare tactics or mindless prophetic drivel, much though we might be tempted to do so. They are deadly serious, and they have the backing of satan AND (according to the scriptures) GOD HIMSELF - for God will withdraw his restraints and give the saints into their hands for a season. God must test their resolve. He must see what is in their hearts, and He must see who will absent themselves from this plan before it goes too far. [Some may repent, and God is merciful!]. Judgement Begins at the House of God The revivalists believe that God is going to "judge" all those who are now opposing the revival, and remove them out of the way. Bob Jones in his 1998 message given in Hamilton, Ontario said "For I do say, get ready for a new canopy (covering), it's in Isaiah 4:4-6, for I'm getting ready to purge the church with fire and to destroy the filthiness of Zion in an awesome way." Many others say the same thing:
This statement above is a good example of the sonship/LR/revival doctrines. The judgement is brought to bear BY the elected Remnant (the chosen temple) AGAINST those who oppose the forward march of their earthly "kingdom" and it identifies the MAN OF SIN (Antichrist) as those who do not conform to their doctrines, those having "mixed allegiances" and not having received the new revelations and the new spirit of the revival movement! The "christ" - actually the Corporate Christ - will SLAY this man of sin! It could not be more clear. Bill Burns of Faith Tabernacle put it this way:
The Old Order is the Enemy
For another, even more explicit, statement of the coming judgement on rebels, see "Glory or Terror?" from "A Trumpet Call" apostolic site. He heads the "prophecy" with a statement that it is NOT speaking of the actual physical return of Jesus Christ, yet the word goes on to predict the soon coming of the "Holy Warrior clad with zeal and vengeance" who "shall avenge the blood of the innocent" and "there shall be a great outpouring of wrath upon those who have rebelled against me"... and more. Remember, this is NOT speaking of the physical Second Coming! Steve Hill, of Brownsville, makes similar statements in a message given in January 1998. He says that there's something big on the horizon and the day of the Lord's returning is near (that is, as we now know, the revealing of "Christ" in his BODY.) He then warns the sceptics, the religious ones to FEAR what is about to happen, for God says:
It's EITHER/OR!It is taught that those in the churches who have not "moved on" from the ordinary pentecostal experience to the "new thing" of the revival will not only be left behind when the glory comes, but will find themselves robbed of their former ministry and exiled to the "outer court" of the temple at that time:
And from the tape on 'Joel's Army' by Jack Deere:
And from a more recent message by a respected leader of the revival, Bobby Conner:
Traditional ways must go
Over and over, the blame for delaying the coming of the kingdom of God, and causing the Church's supposed 'failure' in all areas is laid at the door of the "religious" who turn out to be those who hold to traditional values and doctrines. One major leader of the revival, from the beginning, is Marc Dupont. In his article, "The Next Wave", he uses veiled threats of judgement on all who refuse to accept the new revelations. First he identifies what is hindering the revival's power - I sensed [the Lord] say: "This is the condition of my Church. There is so much criticism, legalism, and pharisaism in the Church that the Church needs to soak and soak in my love and compassion." He then compares and contrasts Saul and David and Solomon's Temple. These figures are often used in the revival to denote the old order and the new, David being the new king ordained by God. Dupont says that the Temple was "built as a place of worship and prayer, [but] over the years its purpose was diluted to ritual alone. It was no longer the home of real prayer and worship. Israel had rejected the time of their visitation, and had previously killed prophets in the name of preserving outward religious respectability and tradition. Jesus, therefore, brought judgment against the people, and the monument was demolished some 70 years later. The Lord impressed upon me quite clearly, that this is also happening now." He continues:
In some circles these religious types are not just an irritation, but are the Man of Sin himself. The planned purging is not designed to root out the many charlatans, frauds, cheats, adulterers, liars and abusive leaders who really do savage the flocks, but the humble little Joe in the pew and the minister minding his own business who happens to oppose the Toronto Blessing and the laughing revival! THIS is the so-called enemy of the Glory, and he must GO. Standing on the written word of God is almost a crime in the revival, and marks you out as an old-order Christian. This must be explained, as there are those who see the antagonism as inexplicable and therefore unbelievable. The truth is that the doctrine underpinning the revival is that of the mystical and dominionist cults who have always believed that the kingdom must be brought to earth by believers through spiritual transformation. Transition to the Third Day ChurchAs I explained in my other article on this subject, "The New Thing", one forerunner of the sonship/latter-rain teachers was the mystic Joachin of Fiore who taught that history consisted of a certain number of allegorical "days":
Furthermore, in each era, there would be an "overlap" in which the old order was still in existence but was passing away, and in which the old-order followers clung on to their old ways and resisted change. But always the new age would dawn and the survivors would move on. The period of changing over from the old order to the new order is called TRANSITION. The Chuck Pierce newsletter for April 17th, 1999 carried an article about the Third Day Church in which he stated:
Earlier this year, Chuck Pierce spoke about the Third Day Church and prophesied that this transition would be complete by October 1999. Whatever view we take on such time-setting prophecies, it is none the less interesting that their time scale is so immediate. Are we now living in the days when the old religious traditions that have been in place for nearly 2000 years are to be overthrown by a spiritually-driven new leadership whose means of communication with God and the flock is revelation knowledge, visions, dreams and prophecies? Pierce was addressing the meeting "National School of the Prophets: Mobilizing the Prophetic Office for the Next Century" held January 28 -30, 1999 at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Speakers included: C. Peter Wagner, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, Dutch Sheets, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Mike Bickle, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble and Ted Haggard. At the same meeting, Barbara Wentroble, spoke about the dying of the old ways:
From the above it can plainly be seen that holding to the written word of God, to the old church traditions and ways of worship, and even to the "old" gospel covenant (!! an issue I will address shortly) mark out a Christian today as belonging to the day of the Mind and Soul, rather than the Spirit, and it is expected that such a person will resist or even violently oppose the coming of the Age of the Spirit, the Third-Day. To confirm my findings, visit one of the "Third Day Church" sites - "Third-Day Churches". Using another analogy, Gwen from the "Christ Temple" site likens the legalistic old ways to Mount Sinai where the OT law was given, and the new dimension in the spirit as Mount Zion where believers are perfected and spiritually transformed in the New Jerusalem with a new covenant. (Heb 12:18-24) (Particularly note that "new covenant", again).
A New Covenant - Revelation, not WordsIt would be logical, since each of the previous historical "days" of the system was governed by a covenant with God (The first Day was the OT covenant of Law, the second was the NT covenant of Grace) that third day should also to be governed by a covenant. This thought, abhorrent as it may seem, is found in a number of prophecies and messages around the Internet sites. Just as the Old Covenant gave way to and was superseded by the New Covenant of Jesus, so they say another and better covenant will be brought in by the latter-day God-Man, the Saviour of the world! Bob Jones, in his "Shepherd's Rod for 1999" teaches that the "truth" is the revelation/rhema-word that will be given to the apostles. It is the apostles who have the task of re-educating the believers:
One man who teaches extensively about the new church government is Bob Nevels aka Bar Jona at his site http://www.barsjona.org/ which is crammed with eye-opening literature from the apostles and prophets. (Those affiliated with this ministry include Andrew Strom and Tommy Thompson - whose comments on the spirit of Elijah I have previously mentioned.) In a number of commentaries on scriptures, he outlines the new covenant and what it means:
NOTE - here he tells us what the new covenant consists of: spiritual revelation rather than "head knowledge". Bar Jona continues:
This contradicts conventional Church practice, and sets the whole issue of bible interpretation on its head. Up to now, general commands and statements in the word of God have been interpreted to deal with specific matters and issues, yet here the reverse is commanded. It is suggested that specific prophecies or revelations (personal prophecies, perhaps, or visions) must be applied to general conditions within the church. In other words, single revelations from single individuals will govern doctrine for the whole church! Taken to extremes, this impels the new-order followers to condemn and damn all those who keep to the old covenant and the traditional gospel. See the following. The article begins with a scripture quote of the glory cloud in the temple.
The revelation knowledge is referred to by sonship disciples as "truth" and those who do not move in their circles and oppose such revelations of new doctrines are "suppressing the truth". That is why they "must be destroyed".
Riss makes it clear that just "being saved" will not protect anyone from coming under the wrath of God in the endtimes and being judged and destroyed along with the wicked. Riss reasons that the disobedience that impels God to destroy the wicked has to do with "the suppression of truth" - therefore it is those modern-day "pharisees" who come under judgement, whether saved or not! Many times throughout his article he explains that knowing God and being saved are not enough to deliver a Christian from the wrath to come, but it is necessary to fall into line with the new revelations and the emerging new order to be spared!
It seems clear, then, that this "new covenant" for the third age has to do with revelation knowledge, rather than the written word of God. The "religious spirit" despised by so many revival groups is none other than the one operating in those who still cling to the traditional doctrine of the scriptures, and apply intellectual reasoning, debate, reason and mindful examination of those scriptures. Bob Jones, helped by his scribe Keith Davis, clearly condemns such mental applications as part of the dying old order, and he identifies it as the "abomination of desolation" in the Temple of God:
Killing the DragonAnother "prophet" speaks of opponents as "the beast system" of Revelation:
This immediately raises the question of who or what is the "beast system". The Bible talks about the reign of the beasts of Revelation as being the most evil powers ever to walk the earth. These beast individuals and empires are destroyed by the breath of the Lord at His coming. However, the sonship/revival devotees have a very different conception of the beast system. Stated simply, they believe they are "of the Spirit" and their religious opponents are "walking in the flesh, not the Spirit". Since the flesh-realm and mental reasoning is mere "animal life" as opposed to "spiritual life" they see those who do not join them in their spiritual high-jinks as being "of the beast-nature". Thus, by one huge leap in deduction, they portray their opponents as The Beast of Revelation! Having been identified as the "man of sin", the "beast system" and the "abomination of desolation", we - and all like us who do not subscribe to these doctrines - are marked for judgement! If we are (even though Christians - see Richard Riss) part of the antichrist rebellion, then it is obvious that there are "no holds barred" in destroying us! No amount of suffering should be spared, since people like us oppose the New Order and deserve only to be turned out of the church, put to flight and even killed. As we have seen, the day of mercy has turned into the day of judgement - there is no longer a covenant of grace, but now a merciless purging of all that hinders the setting up of the kingdom across the entire earth. If you do not submit to this, you are doomed. Be warned! Are you ready to stand up for your faith, and for Jesus Christ the Saviour, and to "contend earnestly" for the scriptural doctrines delivered ONCE (and not at any subsequent time) to the saints of God's Church. (Jude 1:3) How will they justify killing us? Can they really be planning to do so? YES! Here is one quote that argues for such a thing. It comes from a woman in the revival called Jeannie Withrow, a worship leader and member of the prophetic music group "Number 8".. She shares "A few things the Lord has been showing me about the Sons of Thunder prophesy as given to James Ryle." She links the biblical Sons of Thunder, James and John, with the modern-day overcomers who are full of zeal for the Lord's ways. In Luke 9:51-56, the Sons of Thunder offer to call down fire from heaven on those who reject Jesus. Jesus, however, rebukes James and John and says "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." However, today, she argues, the modern-day Sons of Thunder DO know "what spirit they are of" because they have the "new revelation" of the revival, and are therefore ready to call down fire to kill the enemies of Jesus!
The doctrines of this new move are playing right into the hands of our pagan and secular foes, who have for years wanted to get rid of all true Christians. The New Age has been planning an "earth cleansing" for many years, but now we see huge sections of the Church also nodding in agreement! Here is a statement found on a gnostic site. In an identical way to the sonship/LR believers, it speaks of the woman giving birth to a divine Manchild who is to rule with a rod of iron. It, too, identifies the opponents of this divine "child" -
Need I point out here that we see the VERY SAME doctrines of demons permeating both the new-age, the pagan and the religious worlds, including many churches! See above the references to the Manchild and his rule over the nations, his merciless opposition to anything that hinders the 'flow of kundalini power', the revelation knowledge (new awareness) that characterisies this corporate child, and the identification of his enemy - the (true) churches who oppose these teachings! These are identical teachings, and once again we are reminded of our central text that says in the last days some shall turn away from the truth and give themselves over to the "doctrine of demons". I don't believe we need look much further than the above quote for proof of this condition in the church today! (This study continues in the next section) CONTINUE TO THE NEXT PART OF THE SERIES (Part Six) HERE IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT INFORMATION: (c) Tricia Tillin 1999 It is not my intention to hinder anyone who has a LEGITIMATE use for this material. Indeed, this material is so important that I want it to reach everyone who needs it. However, this article and all it contains is my intellectual property and copyrighted material and therefore you are NOT to assume that you may freely use it on your web site or reprint it in your magazine, or whatever, in disregard of my provisos written here. This is to protect me from the abuse/distortion of the material and to prevent my name and article becoming linked to sites of which I would not approve. Therefore, please abide by these conditions:
© 2003 Tricia Tillin of Banner Ministries. All rights reserved. Cross+Word Website: http://www.banner.org.uk/ This document is the property of its author and is not to be displayed on other websites, redistributed, sold, reprinted, or reproduced in printed in any other format without permission. Websites may link to this article, if they provide proper title and author information. One copy may be downloaded, stored and/or printed for personal research. All spelling and phraseology is UK English. |