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Biblical Growth & Spiritual Maturity Jesus Christ said: “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”– Mt 16.18
Christ is the Owner, the Master and the ultimate Lord of the Church that is His Body. Unless one studies the book of Acts and understands it, there is no way we could begin to understand what is going wrong today, both in local churches and in the Body of Christ. In the book of Acts, we find the birth of the Church, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the appointment of the deacons, the Church growth and its challenges. Therefore any local church model should be firmly tested or benchmarked against the original Church. Although church growth is praiseworthy, it is also important to emphasise the importance of spiritual maturity.
This study looks at the biblical model of church growth and the meaning of spiritual maturity in order to discern and warn believers against worldly techniques. The aim is to emphasise the fact that building up the church and edifying one another is every believer’s responsibility. The conclusion provides some question for self-reflection.
The Church’s vital growth: Acts 2. 40 – 47 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. There is a big difference between growth or numerical increase and development or spiritual maturity
1- The Church growth “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
It is not by chance that the Holy Spirit précised that it was the “apostles ‘doctrine” and not just any doctrine. Notice some of the issues involved in attempts to draw believers away from the leadership’s teaching:
- “We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies”. – I Co 8
- The authenticity of Paul’s apostleship was under attack at some point - Gal.1
- In his defence, the apostle Paul sadly mentions those “false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage) –Gal. 2.4
Previously, I shared with you about how false prophets arise. In fact, false teachers target vulnerable believers first. They will always try to undermine the spiritual authority by displaying a ‘higher/ sophisticated knowledge’ than the pastor, in order to draw people behind them. The sheep should always be aware of these tactics and refrain themselves from following anyone who causes unnecessary doctrinal disputes and conflicts in the church. If such knowledge was biblical, it would be shared in love and humility, in a spirit of mutual submission, under the approval and guidance of the established leadership. One cannot be his own ‘all-knowing pastor’! This in itself is a sign of spiritual immaturity and narcissism!
“And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Church growth in the book of Acts: 12 people, 120 people, 3120 people, 5120 people, multitude ...) but the addition was made of people who were saved, not just sympathisers, activists or seeker-sensitive people.
2- Spiritual growth and edification - The Church prospered!
The ultimate goal is the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to His fullness. The nature of this unity is far different from union schemes promoted by ecumenist institutions i.e. union of all churches and ultimately all religions (togetherness) that will lead to a super world religion led by the coming antichrist.
The biblical unity is not to be fabricated by any human being but it is to be rather preserved by the Holy Spirit through the bond of peace. This is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit that is in us. Therefore He is able to execute Christ’s commandments e.g. to love and forgive one another. There is no way such commandment could be obeyed without the ministering grace of the Holy Spirit. This is the reason why the disciples ought to stay praying in Jerusalem until the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. The gospel prospered remarkably, as opposed to today’s unbiblical prosperity gospel.
The growing – seemingly unstoppable - influence of non-believers from within/ without the church, along with the controlling jezabelian spirit are very damaging to the Body of Christ. However, their spiritual identity can be easily discerned through the impact of their works, as indicated in the following biblical passage taken from Galatians 5.19 – 20:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. “ For obvious reasons, the Lord has Himself given some disciples to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, that it may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ. From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4.16)
The Lord Himself added to the Church those who were being saved (continuous action, not a process):
“And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth."(Revelation 5.9-10)
Peter learned the hardest way that “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality [...] but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him”.!
3. Living toward spiritual maturity Different elements apply to different entities when it comes to spiritual maturity because God has a special purpose for each person, each family and each local church.
Here are some of the general ways to spiritual maturity:
- Personal fellowship with God through prayer and obedience to His Word
- Christian Heritage and Education
- Inward witness of the Holy Spirit – as advocated by John Wesley
- Inspiration / imitation from other commendable believers
It is biblically established that building up one another in the Church is at the heart of the Lord, Who Himself has given us gifts of people in terms of ministries and supernatural abilities for that purpose.
Questions: Are my actions fulfilling God’s intended purpose? Are my actions edifying others? What kind of fruit am I bearing?Are my actions performed in the spirit of love, peace and humility as we were told by the Lord? What fruit am I producing? (Gal. 5. 19 – 23 & I Co 13 may help us in this self-examination)
The opposite of:
- Love is hatred - Peace is troublemaking and violence - Humility is pride and arrogance
We need to know God personally in order for us to serve Him according to His Word and by His Spirit.
E.g. appointment of the first deacons in Acts 6 - people of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom Among whom Philip & Stephen were also chosen.
- Stephen became known as a great teacher
- Philip evangelised the city of Samaria and the Ethiopian Eunuch
The first disciples testified about the One they had undeniably known, that is the dead and risen Lord!
Tributes and respect paid to the memory of the dead can provide spiritual applications:
The problem:
Conclusion It’s important that we are all certain that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour. Also, we need to consider these basic elements for our spiritual growth and maturity. We ought to serve God with fear and trembling and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Non- believers should always be welcome in the church but they should not dictate the church what and how to do things. This is the house of our Father and it is the Spirit that allows us to serve God according to His will and to cry out “Abba, Father”!
Let’s remember that our edification will not come from the BBC, the World Council of Churches, the Pope or whatever other bodies instituted by men, but from:
- Christ the Head of the Church from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
- The Holy Spirit – true Vicarius Christi, as it is written: “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.”
Here is a good questions to us all:
Yes, we once invited Jesus Christ in our heart to become our Saviour and Lord but does He still feel welcome in our personal life, in our family or in our Church?
I am I edifying my fellow believer and the Church?
God wants us to examine ourselves and He is always willing and ready to receive us if we allow Him to do so, just like the Prodigal Son’s Father.
The Ultimate Goal is unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to His fullness! BSS Click the link to listen to this teaching http://www.bridgelane.org.uk/mp3ss213d.swf.
Listen to other Sermons http://www.bridgelane.org.uk/page243.html
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ANTICHRISTIANISM By W. G. Broadbent DECEPTIONS HEADING FROM ANTICHRISTIANISM In his prophetic "Lectures on the Book of Revelation" (given about 1858) William Kelly made the statement "Christendom and Judaism will each contribute to the last form of evil --- antichristianism". Antichristianism is now with us. It is all that calls itself Christian in profession and practise, which however, is contrary to true Christianity. It is Christian in name and pretence, but what they call Christianity is antichristianism. It is that which waters down and spoils all that is essential in Christianity and presents instead something which appears like it but is opposed to it. This involves the following deceptions : - Deceptions of a mutilated unauthoritative Bible. - Deceptions of watered-down aborted doctrines. - Deceptions of Devil-orientated spirituality. - Deceptions of a gospel which is not the gospel. 1.UNAUTHORITATIVE BIBLES "If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11: 3). The Devil accordingly has set out to destroy the Bible, so that the righteous will have no foundations for faith or teaching or knowledge of God and His purposes. The deception of the modern Bibles is that they look like modern versions of the true Bible but they do the Devil’s work in two respects. In thousands of small changes they detract from the glory of the Lord Jesus-Christ and in the main the changes tend to the support of the views of those who deny the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, bodily resurrection, the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures and other fundamental doctrines. They cannot be read and accepted without the readers also accepting that with all the different versions around, based on different Greek texts etc., that there is no way of knowing what is the true Bible. The modern splurge of Bibles by this scholar and that proclaims that all these particular scholars admit and accept that there is no true Bible available. If they agreed there was a true text or true Bible, then they would not all produce things different. And the reader who accepts and uses these Bibles is also accepting that there is no true Bible that may be referred to, or he would not bother with anything other than that. That the Devil has succeeded to produce this position today, is the greatest break-through he has had in his warfare against Christ and His Church since Pentecost. All the modern variant versions are based on the so-called "Codex Vaticanus" of the Roman Catholic Church and other kindred texts from the stream of texts to which it belongs. The history of these texts has been clearly shown from the research work of godly men in recent years. These texts are the product of erroneous teaching in the second century and they were rejected by the virile Christianity of those stern times. The true texts were preserved faithfully in another stream of copies and our Authorised Version that has come to us from and through these texts is the true Bible in the English language. The people of God who preserved the true texts over the centuries ever rejected the false texts with Apocrypha upon which the Roman Catholic versions are based. But now, "scholars" have elevated the spurious texts and they are deceiving God’s people with them. Modern Christians are not proving as discerning as the people of God were in the early centuries or even in the dark ages. The Waldensians, the Huguenots, the Albigenses and the Reformers of the Reformation period all rejected what is now deceiving the modern Christians. God made a perfect Book and intended it to be absolutely authoritative even to jots and tittles of its text and of its thought and expressions. It was given "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works". (2 Tim. 3:17). Accordingly the suggestion that God has failed and that it is not now possible to know the actual Scriptures in word or detail – authoritatively - is a slander against the Almighty - and it is a wicked deception of Satan. God did something extraordinary when the Bible was set up in English, and became settled in the form that is called "The Authorised Version". There had been a period of about one hundred years or more of English translation from the same stream of Greek texts, but in the reign of James the First the Bible came into use in English in a way that was obviously ordered of God Himself. It is not called the "Authorised Version" because King James authorised it, for he did not presume to do such a thing. But because godly Christians everywhere recognised it and accepted it and acted upon it as the only true and authorised version for the Churches of God in English- speaking countries. In the same way that the canon of Scripture became recognised by godly people after much heart-searching, and over a considerable period of time, so also did the English Bible become settled, accepted and loved and acted upon as the Bible by English-speaking peoples. And for three hundred years the Church has accepted the Authorised Version as the true Bible and has acted boldly upon it in every way. But now modernist scholars are seeking to set it aside, and thus is the work of Satan today. It should be noted that all the modern versions are based on the Roman Catholic stream of Bible texts, in the places where they are at variance with the Authorised Version. Similarly it should be noted that no variant translations in English have been made based on the true texts from which the Authorised Version came to us. This is because the Authorised Version is completely satisfying and is the only true Bible in English that relates with the true Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek. It should also be noted that the modern "translations" are the work of scholars who do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture and who deny the deity of Christ. Can any Christ-honouring Christian commit himself to and rely on the work of people who do not honour their Lord and whom they know from Scripture that God will not honour? Could God possibly have committed His Holy Word or His Church to the ministrations of such men? The answer is sometimes given by people who are mystified by the references to this Hebrew or Greek text or that, that this is a realm for scholars only and that only those who are experts in Hebrew and Greek and in textual knowledge, have a right to treat in such matters and that the ordinary common Christian must rely on specialised scholarship for direction in this field. The answer to this is that God never commits His essential things to worldly scholarship. He does not prize it very highly. The consistent pattern of God’s dealings in such matters is "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise: and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty: and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are : that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor. I : 27 - 29). Thus it is that God did not rely on scholars to fix the canon of Scripture, but the common people of His Church, whom the scholars despise, has God used to recognise and give the Bible to the World. Similarly today, God is not using the world of scholarship to give a conflicting maze of different Bibles. Somebody else is doing that. God is still however causing simple true believing souls to recognise correctly what is of Himself. He has done this for English- speaking people since His saints generally accepted the English Bible, and He is still doing it. The Almighty laughs at "modern textual scholarship" which sets itself against Him and His Book, and Christ is spurning today the pedlars of the scholars’ products and the scholars likewise. The common believer who understands the English language only, may know His God, God’s Christ, and the Holy Bible, as no modernist professor will ever do. He can manage without the Professor’s help, because he has illumination spiritually from the Holy Ghost. Actually the great professors are professing to try to understand the words of simple fishermen and other straight-forward people who are so unlike themselves that they have a lot of trouble with it. The common Christians of the Church are not so inhibited with such an incubus of doubt and they get the truth loud and clear while the professors are stumbling about in the murk, professing their doubt, depression and despondency. How do we deal with this deception? There is only one thing to do with the deceptive unauthoritative Christ-dishonouring trash Bibles of our age. - ‘That is to get them out of our houses. And let us elevate and treasure the only true English Bible. Pt has been attacked and besmeared, but it is safe and sure under God’s own protection. It will be available to the Church until Christ calls the Church away to be with Himself forever. Those who may require further information on this subject are referred to the following books now available: "God wrote only one Bible" by J. J. Ray. "Believing Bible Study" by Dr. E. F. Hills. "Which Bible?" by Dr. D. O. Fuller. 2. HATH GOD SAID? ABORTED DOCTRINES The next deception of antichristianism is related to the scholars’ unauthooritative Bibles. If you cannot be sure of the true text or Bible, how can you be sure of any teaching? Once doubt is suggested about the authority for this or that Scripture, it is an easy further move to doubt what it teaches and the Devil is riding again with the age-long question of the serpent : "Hath God said?" Every truth falls under suspicion and so is produced the final doubt -Is any truth or teaching or doctrine important at all? –seeing there can be nothing sure if there is no authoritative Bible to refer to? And so we have the "Love greater than doctrine" nonsense of the scholarly no-hopers in the pulpits and colleges of the main-line "protestant" Churches today. It will be no loss to the true service of God when they finally trundle off into full association with Rome in the mysteries and abominations of Babylon the Great. This deception is dealt with by firmly holding the shield of faith and using only the tried and tested sword of the Spirit tuned and tempered to the English language, and marked "A.V." 3. DEVIL ORIENTATED SPIRITUALITY While undermining the authority of the Bible on the one hand, on the other hand the Devil is offering today something else to take its place. The proposition of this deception is that while you may not be: sure of any text of Scripture, you can at least be sure of personal subjective spiritual experiences and revelations. And so we have the authority of dreams and imaginings, of alleged interpretations of "Tongues" and of alleged prophecies and healings and spiritual "experiences" and "leadings" of many kinds. And so we have the modern cults and the occult. The deception is that these experiences are from God when they are really from the wily old serpent himself, and not from above but from below. Readers are referred in this connection to the writer’s booklet "The Doctrine of Tongues" for a more detailed study of the working of this deception. This deception extends from the cults through all branches of Protestantism and in Roman Catholicism. It is a unifying factor in the process of ecumenism. The Lord does lead His own people, to move rightly in their individually appointed paths of life, but the Word of God is ever enthroned and supreme in relation to such leading. The modern deception is that Satan leads those who are not obedient to the every commandment and precept of the Written Word. The penalty for sidestepping the clear authority of God’s Word and not implicitly acting upon it, is that Satan finds a victim to lead and confuse contrary to the plan and will of God. How do we deal with this one? We repent of our doubts and we return to the precision and exactitude of the only certain Lamp to our feet and Light to our path With this position accepted and acted upon, "the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore" (See Psalm 121) 4. A WARPED GOSPEL The unauthoritative Bibles with the aborted doctrines and abandoned directions of God, supported by manifestations and eruptions of fake spirituality, produce "novel" and "modern" ways of preaching and teaching. The deception is that these "ways" and "messages" are from God, but Satan has through them completed his full circle of triumph for he has thus misled multitudes of God’s people to neutralise their effectiveness in God’s service by thinking they are pleasing God when they are not and by making it almost impossible for sinners to be reached with the potency of the true Word of God in Holy Spirit power with the unction of the voice and instrumentality of obedient and trusting servants of God. Thus it is that we have "Gospel" crusades run by committees of mixed believers and unbelievers. And thus it is that we have believers claiming that "the end" justifies the means. And thus it is that Roman Catholics are regarded as "Christians", and their gospel that built their institutions is seen as the same gospel, that Billy Graham has on the one hand, and that the apostles had on the other! Thus it is that Coffee-Bar vaudevillists pass as Christian preachers or teachers. Thus the Ladies’ Coffee-hour sips and socialises, deceiving and being deceived that that form of fellowship is God-approved and Spirit-blessed. Thus it is that we have antichristianism rampant everywhere today. WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT ALL THIS? Well, if we want to be "with it", and if we want to enjoy popularity, then we carry on with the crowd, and enjoy the prosperity and ease and good fun and comradeship of Laodiceanism. But if we want to be looking to please our Lord, to really obey Him and do His service in the way He desires and "be ready" when He comes, then "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3: 3): To purify: - Use the pure Bible only. - Believe it; obey it: act on it. - Pray it: meditate it; eat it: live it out. "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening; the eye" (Ps. 19: 8). This eye salve will deal with all the deceptions of Satan - and more - it will enable the man of God to see clearly how he should redeem the time for God, in these evil days. "With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure" says the Psalmist, "and with the froward thou wilt snow thyself froward" (Psalm 18:26). TAKE HEEDS THAT NO MAN DECEIVES YOU
Bible believers know that God has said that the day is coming when there will be a one-world government; a oneworld apostate church (made up of all religions left behind when Christ takes the true church away - I Thessalonians 4:14-18); one-world financial control (the mark of the Beast, etc.); a one-world dictator who poses as Christ, etc. Knowing these things we are not surprised to see them budding in movements like The Promise Keepers, charismatic circuses, the Pope's growth in popularity, Middle-East struggles, Big Brother's growing invasion into personal liberties, etc. We acknowledge that there must be millions of people caught up in movements which are part of coming events, who have no idea of the direction in which they are going. They don't see the "Big Picture." As Bible believers we have a blessed hope. Our Lord is coming! He has said, 'Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active] for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 25:13). Meanwhile we have a twofold responsibility - warn of false teaching and do what we can to win those we can for Christ. BSS There are multitudes of people for whom Christ died sincerely fellowing false systems. Jude tells us, "And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 24). Surely we can save some from the burning ! .... God says:
”…Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.” Revelation 18.4 ______________________________________________________________ Benny Hinn the miracle-man: discerning the false prophet Question on Benny Hinn Question: I read that in his recent meetings in the Philippines, Benny Hinn had crowds of one million per night, and similar crowds in Africa. He seems to be the most popular preacher in recent memory, even more so than Billy Graham. Some evangelical leaders accept and praise him. Jerry Falwell commends Hinn warmly. Yet you offer a book, The Confusing World of Benny Hinn, which...confuses the body of Christ by portraying Hinn as a false prophet. Why? Answer: Isn't accurate information vital concerning someone as popular as Benny Hinn? The Confusing World of Benny Hinn documents many of Hinn's false prophecies, deceits, heresies, occult practices, etc. He supposedly repents, then goes back to the same thing and frequently changes his story. He even changes his testimony: "I got saved in Israel in 1968" (PTL Family Devotional, Dec. 1981); "It was in Canada that I was born again right after '68" (1983 message in St. Louis); "I got saved in high school in February 1972...during my senior year" (Good Morning, Holy Spirit, 1990); "I never said I was a senior..." (Christianity Today, 10/5/92). Which, if any, is true? In March 1995, in Springfield, MO, Hinn said, "...in South Africa I saw a man blow on somebody and the man fell, and I thought, 'Boy, that's a good idea! [That's why] I began to blow...in ignorance...." Yet in The Anointing (p. 89), Hinn had said, "Some have asked me what I'm trying to do when I throw or blow at them....God told me to do it...." Hinn has had more revelations and seen more visions than anyone, including John in Revelation. He claims that angels appeared in his bedroom every night for a year. In the Bible, angels appeared infrequently and always for a reason. Angels just enjoy observing Benny? He has also seen God and Jesus, even smelled God. Following is a summary of some of the many false prophecies Hinn declared "directly from God" in Orlando on December 31, 1989: A great revival movement will be birthed in Orlando in mid-'90s to bring God back into American classrooms. The mid-'90s will see a new move of God to shake the world with the last great revival. Many will be raised from the dead. Angels will come knocking at your door. About '94-'95 God will destroy the homosexual community of America with fire. A new disease will arise from South America birthed from a new drug from South America and many will die. God will bring America to its knees by economic collapse. An earthquake will hit the east coast of America and destroy much in the '90s. Not one place will be safe in America from earthquakes in the '90s. Not one of the December '89 "God-given" prophecies came to pass! Shouldn't Hinn be disciplined as a false prophet by the church? Yet the more false prophecies he declares, the more heresies he proclaims, and the more bizarre the experiences he relates, the larger his following becomes. Even absurdities such as the following over TBN pass unnoticed: "...the Lord just told me, and I don't know if this is true or not." Many leave Hinn's meetings not only spiritually seduced and with empty pockets, but worse off physically. A man Hinn had "slain in the Spirit" fell on a prostrate elderly woman and broke her hip, resulting in her death. The lawsuit was settled out of court. At a South Africa crusade a man collapsed; Hinn said the Lord told him the man would be okay, but he died in the ambulance. An elderly Hinn follower was turned away from one entrance to ARCO Stadium in Sacramento, CA because she had not given enough money to enter there. Later, on the stage she was "slain in the Spirit," and while she was lying on the floor a huge man, likewise "slain," landed on top of her, breaking her leg. In 1993 in Basel, Switzerland, Hinn prophesied over a man with cancer that he had many years to live. He died two days later. In Nairobi, Kenya early in May 2000, four patients released from a hospital to attend Hinn's "Miracle Crusade" died while waiting for prayer. Hinn has rebuked "the spirit of cancer" and the "devil of death and of debt" so many times without any result that it would be laughable if so many weren't deceived. Earlier this year 3,000 church leaders such as Jack Hayford, Rex Humbard, and Jerry Falwell honored Hinn for 25 years of ministry. Humbard lauded Hinn as "the most illuminating man...of detecting and feeling the moving of the Holy Spirit that I've seen in my 68 years of God's work [and] one of the greatest Bible teachers that God ever let live." On TBN this "greatest of Bible teachers" scorned doctrine as "sick stuff" and said, "I don't discuss doctrine." Even TBN's Paul Crouch has referred to sound doctrine as "doctrinal doodoo." Hinn prowls about on stage, growling as if demon-possessed, breathing out heavily, "If I don't release this power I'll explode!" In a guttural voice he curses those who dare to question him, curses their children and threatens that if he had a "Holy Ghost machine gun" he'd "mow down" critics. He searches for a verse in the Bible that would allow him to kill them! "Fire!" he roars, to knock people down. When one falls he demands, "Pick him up!" then knocks him down again and again. This is the Holy Spirit? Jerry Falwell appeared with the many false prophets at the 25th anniversary celebration of Hinn's ministry. He said, Pastor Benny and I are friends....He came [to Lynchburg] and we had a wonderful day together...in conversation about what God is doing....I wish you and Susan and your four children a blessed, blessed next 25 years....When I look at your crowds in those coliseums, all I see are those 18-year-old high school seniors and I want all of them at Liberty University...! How many more false prophecies and victims and how much more heresy will it take for Falwell, Hayford, et al. to stop encouraging and endorsing Hinn? And when will respected leaders be concerned enough to correct him and to warn the church? Taken from [The Berean Call, September 2000] |
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They all believed... - The Lord Jesus-Christ (The α and Ω) is risen indeed ... (Luke 24.34) - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household (Acts 16.31) - ...It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation (Hebrews 9.27-28) |