The power
& the glory:
-3-
The believer’s
Exaltation identification
Miseducation
(based on conversations I have had with professing christians)
I
think that I was spoilt when The Lord saved me. I really do. The fellowship
that I was a part of had a very high
view of Scripture. There was a
real reverence for the things of
The Spirit in that place. We were drilled in the fundamental doctrines of the faith once delivered & The
Lord moved among the saints in a way that left us in awe. IN AWE. There were
times that we left services & wouldn’t want to even talk idly; we would simply
go home & continue to pray. Sunday
morning. Sunday evening. Wednesday Bible study. Saturday prayer meeting. We went because we knew that The Lord would meet
us there. Our Pastor’s ethos was
simple; do what Christ & the Apostles taught
us to do & God would do whatever He
said He would do. No gimmicks.
No fads. No fashionable trends. No deviation. Everyone was exhorted to build a consistent prayer life & a real relationship with God’s Word. Sterling advice that I &
many others let slip. Zeal without knowledge can be a disastrous thing.
Well, what actually
happened? There was a shift in the dynamic of biblical teaching in parts of The
Church at large. Those who had become dissatisfied with stuffy, buttoned
down, Conservative Evangelicalism & traditional hot potato Pentecostalism, embraced
what they believed to be something more contemporary. Out with the old
& in with the new. Out with the doctrinal
& in with the topical. Out with the weeping
& in with the laughing. The focus became less
about The Lord & what He could do & more
about believers & what they could do. Bang. It was as if an
old fashioned flash bulb had gone off. The believer had access to hitherto untapped
resources; new creation realities, spiritual authority & the wonderful,
powerful Name of Jesus. This was the
path to releasing
revival & as one prominent word of faith teacher put it; the
world was ready for superman. Where oh where did I put my
kryptonite?
It was said that there
was a
new breed that would emerge in the last days, as Isaiah prophesied;
‘Behold, I will do a new thing;
now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness, and rivers in the desert’. (Isaiah 43:19). That
sounded just like revival. The Church was taken in. Hook. Line. Sinker.
Fisherman. Boots. In reality, the situation was more akin to the Athenians,
Stoics & Epicureans that Paul encountered; ‘(For all the Athenians and
strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)’. (Acts 17:21).
This new breed wouldn’t
have it easy though. Oh no. They would have a very
real fight on their hands, if they were to usher in the great
endtime revival that God wanted to pour out onto The Church & into
the world. There was an enemy however, but although he was formidable, the new
breed was
even more so. In the meantime, while spiritual muscles were being
flexed in pulpits & pews everywhere, The Church had to be educated
concerning who & where they were in the eternal
scheme of things, as well as taught concerning the diabolical hierarchy arrayed
against it. It would appear that satan & his dodgy little
mates had marshalled themselves into ranks throughout the unseen realm, ready
for an ethereal scrum. But how was this known & where
did this information come from? Well, after experiences & revelations were
paraded before eager & enthusiastic congregations, Daniel 10 was
eventually blown on, polished up & rolled out to give an indication. Thus
began a relentless campaign of misinformation, misdirection & miseducation.
This chapter became the basis for believing that at all times & in all
places, battle
raged in the heavenlies above nations, cities, towns, villages &
telephone boxes. Angels fought demons in order to remove obstacles to prayer, to
breakthrough
& of course, to revival. Please don’t email me about
the telephone boxes; I was joking. Anyway, back to Daniel 10.
12 Then
said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set
thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words
were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia
withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes,
came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia…20 Then
said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when
I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 21 But
I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these
things, but Michael your prince (Daniel 10:12-13 &
20-21).
Daniel had been on a
self-imposed fast & encountered a supernatural being, in a spectacular
vision. An angel had been dispatched by YHWH. But despite this heavenly
entity’s appearance & powerful presence, he was hindered by an opposing demonic
force, when bringing the answer to the Prophet’s prayer.
The Church clutched her
pearls in horror, completely aghast. You mean that there are nations actually being
ruled over by evil spirits? Oh yes! These spirits can be fought successfully &
their efforts could be thwarted? Oh yes! Can they be defeated in their
activities by little old you & little old me? Oh n…well, yes-ish! Daniel
did it, so we can do it too? Er …goodness, look at the time! Oh
dear. This is where the wheels begin to come off, but I’ll save the
fun stuff until later.
In flooded the
disenchanted & the equally disenfranchised. These previously voiceless
& heretofore invisible men & women were suddenly thrust into the
limelight of basic training on some cobbled together & unreasonably priced Bible
course or other & then pushed to the forefront of a battle that was identified
as such, for no other reason than part of The Church was bored. Some believers
knew no better. Others knew nothing different. These people became cannon
fodder for
& eventually casualties of spiritual warfare machinery.
There were no veterans. There were no medals. There were no
heroes. There were no winners. There were absolutely no
biblical foundations for any of it whatsoever. However, were you to
cast an eye over the landscape of modern Christianity then, there was plenty of
wreckage
& unimaginable carnage.
Such was the focus on the acquisition &
demonstration of power, that The Church stopped listening.
Heads down. Eyes closed.
Fists clenched. Teeth gritted. Ready. Steady. Go. Ignore the recall for
a false
start. Just keep running. Ignore the warning signs of an
impending sheer drop. Just floor it. If any of you have ever seen
the ending of the film Thelma & Louise, you know exactly what happened
next. Small wonder that The Church had to war in tongues at the top of its
lungs. The enemy was organised. The Church had to be too.
But was something being missed? Were there any biblical
details being overlooked? Had anything been under-estimated or over realised?
Consider this; Daniel hadn’t been
involved in combating these demonic entities himself, had he? Consider
this; he didn’t address them directly, did he? Consider
this; as far as we can see from the biblical narrative, he was blissfully
unaware of their presence & influence until his vision, wasn’t
he? But no one wanted to ask these questions or give The Church these small but
significant details. Why not? Miseducation
of course. Don’t rock the boat! don’t lose the kingdom! Don’t strike the rock!
don’t lose the power! Don’t upset the apple cart! Don’t touch the ark! Don’t
lose the glory! There were books to be written & there was money
to be made. There were sermon series to preach & there
was money
to be made. There were conferences to organise & there
was money
to be made. Oh & did I mention that there was money to be made? Yep. There
was a whole heap of tax free money to be made for the movement’s leaders; look
after the pennies & the clowns will take care of themselves.
The
Church was constantly reminded of the words of The
Lord Jesus; ‘Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and
hath nothing in me (John 14:30). Those in the movement were
constantly reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul; ‘But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before
the world unto our glory: Which
none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1st Corinthians
2:7-8) & also, ‘And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians
2:1-2).
Suddenly, the prince of Persia was more than a
character in an online video game; there were princes everywhere. Under tables.
Behind bushes. inside everyone we didn’t particularly like.
The Church was told that dark
forces are arrayed against it &
they are, but not in the way that they were billed by budding revivalists. Some
of the most sinister powers bedecked against The Church my friends, are bred in its institutions
& situated in its pulpits. From there comes much of the
miseducation that we are talking about here. James rightly said, ‘My
brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater
condemnation. For in many things we offend all’ (James 3:1-2).
When we look at The
Scriptures,
at what The Lord Jesus did & taught, as well as the
doctrine
of the Apostles, which they had received from Christ Himself, we see none
of the theories
or practises
that became prevalent throughout the spiritual warfare movement. Miseducation. Believers
were told that they had to see their status of exaltation in
Christ
& their position of identification with Christ.
True enough, but not for the reasons certain teachers stated.
Miseducation.
This knowledge, it was
said, was the key to spiritual power. But not only this. Worship also became a
weapon & of course, so did giving. Special offerings brought with them
special blessing. No one seemed to care just how ineffective
& utterly impoverished the movement was. It was ethically & spiritually
bankrupt. Despite the hours of constant instruction & miseducation,
all of the fighting, the giving, the commanding, the decreeing, the declaring, the
singing, the screaming, the shouting, the giving, the binding & the loosing,
none
of it prevented
what followed in the movement’s wake.
The countless moral
failures. The grotesque misappropriation of funds. The brazen
faking
of miracles. The unabashed fudging of numbers. The financial manipulation.
The sexual exploitation. What was missing? Repentance. Holiness. Faithfulness. There
was no talk of these things. Only healing & prosperity. Yes, people would be saved, but saved into what? When was The Lord going to step
in?
Well, I knew a man in
Christ. He was definitely in the body. He was not caught up into heaven, but
was rather sent into a pastor’s meeting when these shenanigans were afoot in
the church he attended. He said something very simple to the six ministers
present; ‘God has said that He is going to judge this church concerning money, morals & methods’. Then the
bloke got up & left the room.
Several months later, the
senior pastor fired three of the other ministers for not supporting one of his
projects. Shortly after that, he abandoned the fellowship under a financial
cloud & fled to America. One of the remaining leaders took over. He closed
the enterprise down & started another in its place. Things turned around.
Money came in. The Church bought he & his wife brand new luxury motor cars.
It was quite a thing. Less than a year later he was under investigation for
financial misconduct, for which he was found guilty & went to prison. He
had had affairs with women in the fellowship, enticing them with expensive
gifts. One woman in particular, was the wife of the son of one of his
colleagues. He is back in ministry today. I told you, it was quite a thing.
Seeing, hearing &
knowing all of these things turned my heart & mind back to simpler things
& better times. Man cannot initiate revival & if he thinks that he can,
he is deceived. Only The Lord can initiate a move of God, because it is His
kingdom, it is His power & it is His
glory. We The Church, would do well to remember that.
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© by david Samuel Parkins mmxxv all rights reserved.
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