the Name Of

J e s u s:

It’s For Life,

Not Just For Christmas

  

-2-

In our last meeting, we began looking at the counterfeit claim that The Lord Jesus gave His Church an unqualified legal right to use His Name; the power of attorney, if you will. This belief is largely based on the artificial teachings of E. W. Kenyon & Kenneth E. Hagin. In order to give foundation to their falsehoods, both men have systematically ignored the Messianic trend of Scripture & opted for a gnostic view of Christ instead. Hagin’s liberally plagiarised book, The Name of Jesus, endeavours to prove that Jesus gave The Church a blank cheque, in order for us to ask for & receive anything in prayer. Is this really what The Lord did? Leaning heavily on E. W. Kenyon’s writings, Hagin hammers out a premise that is slimmer than a supermodel. What has The Church at large done with this presumed power of attorney? What have the purveyors of this teaching within Charismania & modern Neo-Pentecostalism produced? Well, the movement has dressed itself sumptuously & situated itself very comfortably in luxury. It eats well & has steadily grown fat, because in their world there is little or no separation between church & steak. It ignores the poor in its midst, regularly instructing them to believe heartily & give generously. It has become a sickening caricature. Its assumed illumination flickers violently & the hill of sand that it is built upon, is slowly giving way under the weight of the movement’s obscene bulk. It denigrates Christ. It exalts man. All of this is done in Jesus’ Name. The believing Church must tackle this fundamental issue to its root & it has to do it quickly. It must do it now!

Kenneth Hagin made the following claim concerning The Name of Jesus, in his book of the same title: ‘I have not prayed one prayer in 45 years (I'm talking about for me and for my children while they were young) without getting an answer. I always got an answer—and the answer was always yes.’. Wow, that’s quite a record Ken. How did you manage that?

He continues: ‘We come bringing the Name of Jesus! And God's Word works today, just as much as it ever did. "Ask the Father in My Name," Jesus said. "I will endorse that, and the Father will give it to you." This puts prayer on a purely legal basis for He has given us the legal right to use His Name. As we take our privileges, and rights, in the New Covenant and pray in Jesus' Name, it passes out of our hands into the hands of Jesus; He then assumes the responsibility of that prayer, and we know that He said. "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest Me, and I know that Thou hearest Me always." In other words, we know that the Father always hears Jesus, and when we pray in Jesus' Name, it is as though Jesus Himself were doing the praying— He takes our place.’.

Really Ken? You mean that The Father cannot tell the difference between our petitions & those of The Lord Jesus Christ, when we utilise His Name in prayer? Do you actually mean that Jesus is our Prayer Broker?

He goes on: ‘This places prayer not only on legal grounds, but makes it a business proposition. When we pray, we take Jesus' place here to carry out His will, and He takes our place before the Father.’.

The Name of Jesus © copyright Kenneth Hagin 1979 (emphasis added).

Brethren, do you have any idea how thin the doctrinal ice actually is here? If Hagin is to be believed, The Church has hit the jackpot! He is saying that The Lord gave The Church a cast iron, twenty four carat, hallmarked guarantee for answered prayer. Well? Is Kenneth Hagin to be believed? No. He is not. Lifting a verse out of its context does not institute a truth, any more than a single Swallow constitutes a spring or summer. 

Before The Lord offered His disciples this so called ‘business proposition’, an ‘unqualified legal right to use His name’ & the ‘power of attorney’, He said something that blows Kenyon & Hagin’s theories right out of the water. Jesus begins this portion of His discourse with the words; ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.’ (John 16:1). He continues, telling them they’ll be thrown out of Synagogues & even suffer martyrdom at the hands of those who believe they’re doing God’s will. He tells them that He is going back to The father, but that He will send The Holy Spirit to them. He knows that they are sorrowful. I would have been solemn too. Wouldn’t you? Jesus tells them, ‘A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.’ (John 16:16).  

²⁰ Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. ²¹ A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. ²² And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. (John 16:20-22).  

Jesus tells the disciples these things in order to encourage & keep them. Then He gives them a contrast between the sorrow they are feeling & the joy which is to come. Remember, Jesus isn’t speaking to Americans or Europeans. He isn’t speaking to Lawyers either. He is speaking to Jews. 

²³ And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. ²⁴ Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ²⁵ These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. ²⁶ At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: ²⁷ For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ²⁸ I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father (John 16:23-28).  

Jesus is not saying, ‘..tag my Name onto the end of your prayers & you will always get what you pray for..’. However, He did say something that is regularly skipped over. ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24). Moreover, this was not the first time The Lord spoke to His disciples along these lines. We will see this when we go to John 14 & John 15. Buckle up, buttercups. 

The phrase ‘..that your joy may be full..’ does not mean you’ll be ecstatic when you ask for & then receive whatever you want. No. Instead, the disciples & any Jew worth their salt, reading these words in John’s Gospel, may have immediately thought of familiar portions of Old testament Scripture. Remember, Jesus isn’t speaking to Americans or Europeans. He isn’t speaking to Lawyers either. He is speaking to Jews. 

The disciples were sorrowful because Jesus was going away, but He spoke to them of a day when they would see Him again & in that day they would have direct access to The Father, in His Name. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, using my Name. This is not a ‘business proposition’ This is not an ‘unqualified legal right to use His name’. Nor is it the ‘power of attorney’ These terms are all transactional. The Lord Jesus was speaking of something more than that. He speaks of something relational. This fullness of joy is the principle of soba semachot or simchah (seem-KAH). Only YHWH can give us this & He does it by allowing us access to Him & His presence, in Jesus’ Name. In His Name, not in His place; because no one can take His place! 

The Lord Himself experienced deep sorrow as He approached the cross; ‘And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.’ (Matthew 26:37) & yet Hebrews tells us, ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus’ statement was not plucked out of thin air. It was plucked out of God’s Word. 

⁸ I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. ⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. ¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ¹¹ Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Psalms 16:8-11). 

In telling the disciples to ask in His Name, The Lord is demonstrating His authority, His dominion & His mastery. He is showing them His Divine credentials. He is not telling them that they can get whatever they want in prayer, simply by uttering His Name as an incantation. The Name of Jesus is not a magic wand! He is telling them that because of Who He is & what He will accomplish, they & we by extension, can have access to the fullness of joy the Psalmist speaks of. Peter quotes these verses in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. 

²⁵ For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: ²⁶ Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: ²⁷ Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ²⁸ Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance (Acts 2:25-28). 

Their joy will be full because He is showing them the path of life to The Father. In His presence is the joy that no one takes away from them. At YHWH’s right hand is Messiah & in His Name we have access to our Father. This language is relational, not transactional. No Bulls. No Goats. No Heifers. No Turtledoves. We approach YHWH in The Name of Jesus. Because of Who He is. Because of what He has done. To teach or to preach anything else, is to flirt with damnable heresy in an uncomfortable proximity. We will come to this in our next meeting. 

There is no delegation of the use of Jesus’ Name to The Church, in order to guarantee that the answer to our prayers will always be yes! I know you’ve done that. I’ve done it too. How did it work out? There is no endorsement of any of our requests, simply because we wave The Name of The Lord as if it were a lucky charm, while we quote Scripture as if The Bible was a book of spells! There is no extension of any legal right to His Name for whatever we want. That would negate the pure grace of God that has been granted to us, because of the finished work of Christ at the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

²⁹ His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. ³⁰ Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. ³¹ Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? ³² Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. ³³ These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:29-33).  

Kenneth Hagin is dead wrong. His doctrine is a gross misrepresentation of the words of The Lord Jesus Christ & the most grotesque of false pretences. 

¹ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; ² (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) ³ That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full (1^st John 1:1-4). 

¹² Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full (2^nd John 1:12). 

If the false preposition foisted upon The Church were true, why didn’t the disciples ask for the overthrow of Rome & the destruction of their enemies? Why didn’t they go out trawling & pull in huge draughts of fish, all with gold coins in their mouths? Why didn’t they go barefoot water skiing on The Sea of Galilee, during storms? All that they would have had to do, was use The Name of Jesus. Well, I’ll tell you why. They didn’t do these things because that is not what The Lord meant by what He had said to them. What The Lord Jesus taught about His Name was not about the disciples & not about us. It was & is all about Him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

copyright © by david Samuel Parkins mmxxvi all rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

 

 

The Name Of

J e s u s:

It’s For Life,

Not Just For Christmas

-1-

I cannot think of anything that has been used & abused more than The Name of The Lord. It is wilfully blasphemed by the world & sadly taken in vain by The Church. We call on it. We sing about it. We end our prayers with it. We address the powers of darkness using it. The Name of The Lord is precious & should be treated as such, most especially by His Church. Unfortunately, it has become little more than a magic wand with which we attempt to rubber stamp our prayers, in order to guarantee answers in our favour. That has to change. In this short series of articles we will look at what The Church has been taught by leading lights within the Charismatic movement & modern Neo-Pentecostalism. Unbiblical, irreverent claims have been made by some, on, as well as in, Jesus' Name. We have to take it back! Before we get into the nitty gritty of the falsehoods surrounding The Name of The Lord, we have to make something abundantly clear; The Name of Jesus encapsulates all that He is. Beyond the arguments about whether we say Jesus, Yeshua, Iesus or Iēsous, is the matter of which person we are actually talking about. If you go to Mexico City & open the phone book, there are thousands of individuals with the name Jesús. Are demons cast out in the name of one of those men? No. The Watchtower invokes His Name. Mormonism invokes His Name. Seventh Day Adventism invokes His Name. Christian Science invokes His Name. The Christadelphians invoke His Name. Are they all petitioning the same Lord Jesus Christ as the believing Church? No, they are not. Even within The Church at large, there is another Charismatic, Neo-Pentecostal Jesus, who is inept, having laid aside His power & glory. He has to have man’s permission to act. He is bound to & restricted by the principles of the force of faith. In his death He took on the sinful nature of satan, experiencing spiritual death & torture in hell, before eventually being born again. The Catholics have a Jesus who is a glorified mother’s boy & organised Protestantism promotes a Christ that accepts anything & everything from sanctioned anti-semitism to blatant agnosticism & atheism. This is not the biblical Jesus. This is not The Son of God. This is not our Saviour. In these meetings we will be examining the use & abuse of The Name of The Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever The Church at large claims as its mission, is being done in Jesus’ Name. But is it an accurate representation of Christ?

Brethren, do you recall singing Caroline Maria Noel’s great hymn, ‘At The Name of Jesus’? It is a rousing song of praise. Find it & sing it. It’s quite a tune. ‘At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, every tongue confess Him, King of glory now; ’tis the Father’s pleasure, we should call Him Lord, Who from the beginning, was the mighty Word.’.

What about Newton’s glorious theme? ‘How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear.’. Edward Perronet’s thunderous anthem exhorts us, right out of the gate, as he blasts; ‘All hail the power of Jesus’ Name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all.’.

Those words are drenched in sound doctrine. Not feelings. But truth.

We could go on & on. We’re also familiar with expressions such as ‘Stop, in the name of the law.’. ‘Open up, in the name of the king.’. These are pictures of human authority, but they are a far cry from the Divine power of The Name of The Lord.

Charismatics & Neo-Pentecostals alike have fallen into a particular disposition of teaching regarding The Name of Jesus, promoted & popularised in the main by two men; E. W. Kenyon & Kenneth E. Hagin, respectively. Technically, Kenyon’s work is the main culprit, because Hagin shamelessly plagiarised the writing of Kenyon, until he was unceremoniously outed in 1983. Many thanks to Mr. D. R. McConnell’s excellent work; A Different Gospel. I wholeheartedly & enthusiastically recommend it.

With these things in view, what has The Church at large been taught concerning Jesus’ Name. Well, let’s look at what Kenneth Hagin said. ‘The only good book devoted entirely to it (the subject of The Name of Jesus) that I have found is E. W. Kenyon's The Wonderful Name of Jesus. I encourage you to get a copy. It is a marvellous book. It is revelation knowledge. It is the Word of God.’. No. It ain’t.

The Name of Jesus © copyright Kenneth Hagin 1979 (emphasis added).

Cheers Ken, but for biblical reasons I have to strongly disagree. Kenneth Hagin loved Kenyon’s book so much, that he brazenly plagiarised large portions of it & published said sections in his own book, without giving credit where credit was due. Hagin did this much in the same way that he had when he ripped off the writings of J.A. MacMillan for his book The Believer’s Authority. These issues were highlighted in our very first article ‘Betrayal: A Clarion Call to Defending The Faith Once Delivered to The Saints’.

My aim here is to properly eviscerate demonstrably false doctrine purported to The Church at large, regarding The Name & Person of Our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Before we delve into the matter at hand, we have to look at what The Name of The Lord actually meant to those who lived in its radiance. The Name of The Lord is as much Him, as He Himself. For those who treat it with the casual abandon of a cheque guarantee card, I issue a warning. Hitherto you may have said & done things with The Name of Jesus, out of ignorance. Stop it. Now.

Because of erroneous teachings referencing The Name of The Lord, The Church at large has settled for the transactional, rather than the relational. Understanding Jesus’ Name ought to correct that, but often fails to do so because of the nature of the instruction surrounding it. If you have a copy of The Name of Jesus by Kenneth E. Hagin & or E. W. Kenyon's volume on the same subject, burn them. They make excellent kindling. Take your Bible & examine the claims these men made, in the light of The Scriptures.

⁷ Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Exodus 20:7). 

¹² And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:12). 

¹¹ Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Deuteronomy 5:11).

Word of faith doctrine concerning The Name of Jesus has violated all of those commands. Surely the propagators of these falsehoods went to one of their favourite translations to check, before poisoning believers with damnable heresy. They will often go to their version of choice, The Amplified Bible, which says this; ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the Lord will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].’ (Exodus 20:7emphasis added).

This goes way beyond the common, popular invocation of The Saviour’s Name & title, or the exclamation oh my G’d; calling upon Deity for no real reason. In fact, taking The Lord’s Name in vain is to attach the Divine Name to any word, action or endeavour that is diabolical & diametrically opposed to the truth. False doctrine, false teaching & false prophecy all fall into this category. To take, or bear The Name of The Lord in vain, is to seek to endorse, authorise, guarantee or warrant falsehoods using His Name, as if The Lord were signing off on the undertaking. That is why whoever does this will not be held guiltless. They will not be innocent.

His Name is so holy that it is considered ineffable. Remember, The Name of The Lord is as much Him, as He Himself. If we take His Name in vain, if we attach it to falsehood, if we disregard its power, its dignity & fail to reverence it; we are in real trouble & we are in real danger.

²⁰ Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. ²² But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries (Exodus 23:20-22).

The ineffable Name of The Lord holds such authority & commands such power that the Jews will not speak it. They refer to YHWH as Adonai or HaShem; The Name. God puts His Name, His authority, His dominion & His power within the angel, as a type of Christ Who would come bearing the Divine Name later. This is not to say that Christ was originally an angel that later became Messiah. That is the Arian Heresy.

Jesus came in His Father’s Name. He made the ineffable, effable. He made the invisible, visible. He made the unapproachable, accessible. This is The Lord Jesus Christ. This is The Eternal Son. This is our Saviour. His Name is to be exalted. His Name is to be revered. His Name is ever to be worshipped, trusted & adored.

We who are not Jews, have little or no idea what bearing His Name means. We neither love it, nor fear it. Yet we will casually use it with a cavalier attitude. If The Church doesn’t reverence His Name, how can we expect The World to? Let’s consider carefully what we do & say in His Name. The received wisdom of word of faith doctrine concerning The Name of The Lord begins with a statement Kenyon made, which was later reiterated by Hagin.

‘E. W. Kenyon began his book The Wonderful Name of Jesus with this personal account: One afternoon, while giving an address on "The Name of Jesus" a lawyer interrupted me, asking: "Do you mean to say that Jesus gave us the power of Attorney; the Legal Right to use His Name?". I said to him, "Brother, you are a lawyer and I am a layman. Tell me—did Jesus give us the Power of Attorney?. He said, "If language means anything, then Jesus gave the church the Power of Attorney.". Then I asked him, "What is the value of this Power of Attorney?". He answered, "It depends upon how much there is back of it, how much authority, how much power this Name represents.". Then I began to search to find how much power and authority Jesus had. All the power, and all the authority that Jesus had is invested in His Name!.. The measure of His ability [the measure of the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ] is the measure of the value of that Name, and all that is invested in that Name belongs to us, for Jesus gave us the unqualified use of His Name.’.

The Name of Jesus © Kenneth Hagin Ministries 1981 (emphasis added).

This statement sounds feasible enough, but when examined more closely it makes little or no sense. This meshes perfectly with the word of faith movement’s obsession with legal rights & privileges. If The Lord Jesus truly gave The Church the power of attorney, or the legal right to use His Name, does this apply only to American law? What about The UK & wider Europe? What about Africa, or Asia? More to the point, if this is a question of legitimacy, surely it’s Jewish law that we should be looking into, if it is in fact the case that Kenyon’s assertion is correct. I put it to you that it is not.

I’m not talking about erecting buildings or establishing institutions. I mean discovering what The Lord actually meant when He used the phrase ‘In My Name’.

Jesus did not give The Church the unqualified use of His Name. There was no blank cheque written for us. This view is wrong. It is erroneous. It is Hellenistic. It is hedonistic. I would contend that (for want of a better phrase) it is Jesus Christ Himself Who possesses the power of attorney. He came & acted in His Father’s Name as only He could, because He alone is Saviour. He alone is The Son. He alone is The Word. We see this in Messianic prophecy.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15). 

¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10). 

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel  (Isaiah 7:14). 

⁶ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

² But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). 

The Lord promised His Saviour to fallen mankind. The seed of the woman. The power to bruise a head far outweighs the power to bruise a heel. The power to save. The power to absolve sin & dissolve its consequences. The power to govern & rule. The power to grant eternal life. To remove leprosy. To open eyes bling from birth. To cast out dumb spirits. This is Messiah. If there were anyone with a true power of attorney; it is Him. Mr. Kenyon & Mr. Hagin are wrong. Dead wrong. Go & get yourself some petrol & some matches. You’re gonna need them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

copyright © by david Samuel Parkins mmxxvi all rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

 

A very short word:

 On sonship

WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW THAT I DIDN’T KNOW, ABOUT disciples

 

Wake up, beloved. Wake up. ‘Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.’ (Ephesians 5:14). Have you not seen & heard what’s occurring in The Church at large? Do you not know what’s stirring, what’s happening, what’s coming? Are you deaf? Are you dumb? Are you blind? Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 70 or so years, it turns out that The Lord is taking the anointings of past moves of The Spirit, putting them all together & rolling out the greatest, biggest, hugest mushroom cloud making revival event ever known to man! This stuff will be so overwhelming that it will probably be viewable from space …or so it has been said. Yes, I may be exaggerating, a little, but those of you who are familiar with my particular peculiarities will know that what I say is tinged with seriousness. For many a false apostle, prophet, preacher & teacher, this is a last roll of the dice, Why? Because their father the devil knows that he has but a short time. In the face of this onslaught, what are the faithful  going to do? Are we going to lay back in the comfortable softness of compromised western Christianity? We are in an hour when The Lord expects those whom He has made sons (John 1:12), to act like sons. I don’t mean walking around as if we owned the place. We can leave that to the false apostles & prophets of the word-of-faith movement & the new apostolic reformation. I mean living as loyal, faithful & loving sons of God, taking our chief example from The Son of God Himself. It can’t be any clearer than that! If you are simply warming a bench in your fellowship, you need to repent. Unless…well no, but…unless you’re just a mere churchgoer.

The charismatic mega church model has a lot to answer for in this regard, because when there are large numbers of people attending church gatherings consistently, it’s considered a success! Everyone wants the big numbers. The people roll in.  False teachers roll in. The money rolls in. False doctrine rolls in. The world rolls in. False brethren roll in. Beyond the bright lights, loud music, fluff & candy floss, there is little or no substance. As long as the crowd turns up, everyone is happy. However, if these crowds are not drawn by a love of the truth, which ought to be taught systematically, they are no different to the vermin that are attracted by piles of putrid, festering rubbish. There is no discipleship in these gatherings. There is only membership. The two are not synonymous.

Membership is easy. You may make promises. You may shake someone’s hand. You may get a pat on the back. You may sit in the same seat every week, trying not to fall asleep during services. Members attend meetings. Members are present in body, if not in mind. But they go no further. They do very little, if anything at all. There is a distinct lack of prayer & God’s Word in their lives. You don’t have to continue in The Word to be a member; you just have to continue coming. You arrive. You say hi. You leave. You say bye. Moreover, a church member will hear their Pastor preach or teach sound doctrine & immediately upon leaving the service they will promptly go & listen to a heretic, with no distinct ability to tell the difference between the two. I kid you not.

The Lord wants us to move into a real discipleship, which means an engagement with Him & with His Word. You & I are less likely to drift away or into error, if we are discipled & more likely to be useful to The Kingdom of God & of His Christ.

³¹ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; ³² And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  ³³ They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? ³⁴ Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵ And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶ If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:31-36).

Discipleship brings us into a knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. That truth makes us free. This is more than membership. The disciple is one who has not only believed in Christ, but also one who continues in Hs word. The disciple is disciplined to The Lord Jesus Christ & no one else.

²⁴ Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. ²⁵ He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. ²⁶ Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? ²⁷ He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? ²⁸ Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.’ (John 9:28).

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? Paul says, ‘If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.’ (1^st Timothy 6:3-5).

‘This is the sort of thing you should teach, and if anyone tries to teach some doctrinal novelty which is not compatible with sound teaching (which we base on Christ’s own words and which leads to Christ-like living), then he is a conceited idiot! His mind is a morbid jumble of disputation and argument, things which lead to nothing but jealousy, quarrelling, insults and malicious innuendoes—continual wrangling, in fact, among men of warped minds who have lost their real hold on the truth but hope to make some profit out of the Christian religion.’ (1st Timothy 6:3-5 J. B. Phillips Translation).

Sitting in front of your television, watching TBN, Daystar or doomscrolling YouTube shorts & trawling the internet, is no substitute for proper systematic teaching. At the risk of upsetting some & angering others, I will say this; significant portions of so called Christian broadcasting, are not fit for purpose. This is not discipleship. This is not The Gospel we hear preached today.

²⁴ The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. ²⁵ It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? (Matthew 10:24-25).

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? I am not saying that we shouldn’t listen to ministers who instruct us in God’s Word. God has set teachers in the body (1^st Corinthians 12:28). But can that person disciple you? Can they lead you? Can they guide you? More importantly, will they give an account for you? The answer is no.

It frustrates me that many will pay more attention to strangers than they will to their own Pastors. Moreover, they will donate huge sums of money to charlatans & heretics, while neglecting the needs of the fellowship that they belong to. Too many Christians follow the path of least resistance. They do not consider counting the cost. Even as I write these words, I am conscious that I have some repenting to do.

²⁵ And there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said unto them, ²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? ²⁹ Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, ³⁰ Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. ³¹ Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. ³³ So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. ³⁴ Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear let him hear (Luke 14:25-35). 

Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to? The charismatic mega church model doesn’t have time for discipleship, so it promotes membership. More people. More money. Confess. Believe. Declare. Decree. Rinse. Repeat. There is no sitting down in order to count the cost. There is no forsaking all to follow Him.

You will become the disciple of those watch; those whose books you buy; those whose teachings you follow. You will become faithful to them. Whose disciple are you? Who are you following? Whose words are you listening to?

When they say jump, you ask how high. When they say give, you ask how much. This is not a joke. This is a symptom of a direct dereliction of duty by ministers & negligence on the part of believers. There is no excuse.

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).  

The Church needs to get back to basics, because the faulty foundation of cuteness, politeness, neatness & niceness isn’t cutting it. Christ’s example of commitment to The Father is the disciple’s standard of allegiance. ‘Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.’ (John 20:21). These men were not walking in membership. They were walking in discipleship. They believed in Him. They continued in His word. As they preached The Gospel, they made disciples, not members (Acts 2:42).

The mistake made by many in The Church at large is this: they forget that it is both the example of Christ’s life & the manner of His death that we are to observe. We hear about His birth & we celebrate it. We hear about His death & we remember it. But for the most part we ignore the masterclass of His life as an example of discipleship. This is why we as believers are told explicitly about the manner of lives we are to live. The real difference between membership & discipleship is the difference between actively going to church & actually being The Church. Forget what the false apostles, prophets, preachers & teachers are saying. Keep your money. Burn their books. Turn them off. Listen to your Pastor teach sound doctrine. Follow Christ & Christ alone. When we embrace biblical discipleship, this will truly be one of the greatest, biggest, hugest mushroom cloud making revival events ever known to man!