July, 2008
Shalom Ya’ll,
Summer has arrived! I don’t know what the weather is like in your home town, but here in Brunswick the sunshine is beautiful. It has been very hot and dry though, leaving us in dire need of rain.
I was off the road for a few weeks in order to have surgery done on my left eye. I had a cataract removed, a stigmatism corrected and a growth removed from the center of my eye.
The growth came as a result of spending a lot of time in a hot climate, swimming in pools that were heavily chlorinated and driving many hours without sunglasses to protect my eyes from the glare of the sun off both the water and the pavement. I learned that lesson the hard way, but I am thanking God that the surgery was successful. I’m also thankful for the doctor whom the Lord chose to send me to. He, too, is a Believer and does mission work. He will do my right eye shortly after I return from Asia in August.
I do believe that the Lord used this present set of circumstances to trigger the painful memories of the time when I went blind more than thirty-five years ago to come to the surface for healing. For a couple of weeks I was unable to read, write or go online and those painful memories came flooding back, however the past week I noticed that they have all disappeared and my left eye is completely healed. Praise His Holy Name!
This past weekend I had meetings in Corbin, KY and Junction City, Ky. I was able to meet many folks for the first time, and I was also able to see some very dear friends in those areas. There was such a sweet move of the Holy Spirit in both meetings. Lee and Rita Hensler, editors of The Christian Way newspaper, hosted me and it was a precious time of fellowship for all of us. It always blesses my heart to be able to return to the Tennessee Mountains and the rolling green hills of Kentucky, especially in the Spring and Summer time.
Spiritual Deception
Here lately the Lord has had me sharing with you concerning the spiritual deception that is out there today, and it is plentiful! Not too long ago He told me that we are going to begin to see a tremendous increase in spiritual manifestations of power, even miraculous healing. He said that some would be of Him and some would be counterfeit. He went on to say, “Be Alert! Be Watchful! Be Not Deceived! If you do not know who you can trust, ask Me, and I will tell you!”
Matt. 24:11 “Many false prophets will rise and deceive many!”
Mark 13:21-23 “If anyone tells you, “Look here is the Messiah” or “There He is” don’t believe it! For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform signs and wonders so as to deceive if possible even God’s chosen ones. Watch out! I have warned you of this ahead of time!”
II Peter 2:1 “There were also false prophets among the people even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
When He tells us to be not deceived, He puts the responsibility on us. We must check out the Ministries and Ministers who are holding large gatherings or “Revival” type meetings if we are even thinking about attending them.
As you do there will be many who will say to you, “Do not judge.” However we are told in the Scriptures that we must “test the spirits”.
Galatians 2:11 We see Paul standing face to face with Peter, correcting him for being hypocritical. Acts 7:51-53 We see Stephen correcting the religious leaders of his day for among other things, resisting the Holy Spirit.
Matt. 7:1-7:5 “Judge not that you be not judged! For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye. Hypocrite! ‘First’ remove the plank from your own eye and ‘then’ you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.“ In this passage of Scripture we are simply told to check ourselves first!
Remember: When Ezekiel was sent to Israel, he was told to eat His Word, chew it up, swallow it and digest it, ‘then’ apply it to himself first. If it did not apply to him, then he was to go ahead and share it with those he was sent to speak to.
Yes, we must check the character of the leaders or ministries involved. Yeshua warned us about false teachers fourteen times in the Scriptures.
I Corin. 5 tells us that we are not to judge non-Believers, but we certainly are to judge those within the Body of Messiah. All is not always as it appears!
I Timothy 4 is a help in checking the conduct of leaders. They will not be perfect, but their behavior must be beyond reproach. They must practice what they preach! If not, they are hypocritical! To be a good representative of the Lord they must be truthful, faithful and have a purity about them, especially sexual purity. Also, their love must be selfless! A good leader should be willing to lay down his or her life for those who have been placed within his or her realm of influence.
Godly character must come before charisma, talent or money!
Biblical truth must always come before any and all experiences!
Those who preach and teach the Word of God must keep a close check on themselves and what they are teaching. They must also guard against spiritual pride and keep their priorities straight.
We are commanded to preach the truth, correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience. We must stand for truth and expose the lies to protect those whom the Lord has placed within our realm of influence for we will give an account for what happens to each one of them.
I hear leadership say, “I don’t want to offend anyone!” “I’m not about to say anything for it might hurt them!” They flatly refuse to make a stand. If they won’t make a stand now, what will they do when we are flooded with every kind of deception imaginable? What we are seeing right now is nothing compared to what is coming! The Lord said, “It has only just begun!”
Think about all the letters that Paul wrote in tears and great anguish. He knew they were going to hurt the recipients but he loved them enough to tell them the truth. Once godly sorrow brought repentance and then blessing to the dear ones, Paul was thankful that he had written the letters. And so it must be with us!
In light of all that I have just shared, let us take a look at the happenings taking place in Lakeland, Florida. Ever since these meetings began, I have been receiving emails, calls, letters, and even videos by the score so that I could see it for myself. I might add that this began just about three weeks after I received the warning from the Lord that we were about to see an increase in these things.
Some would be of Him and some would be counterfeit!
As I began to seek the Lord I had a strong check in my spirit. As I began to look into it, the Kansas City “Revival” of the 80s came back to mind. That was a “Revival” that had a disastrous end to it. The Name of the Lord was greatly profaned, and the leadership caused many to turn away from the Lord.
The KC “prophets” lied to the people, prophesied out of their own spirits, and when their words did not come to pass their followers blamed God for not keeping His promises. That mess made headlines all across this country and caused many to fear the prophetic. It was disgraceful! I can recall how we prayed and prayed and travailed over what happened there.
Bob Jones, one of the KC prophets, credits an angel in the form of a woman, whose name is Emma, with bringing forth the revelation that brought forth the prophetic movement in KC. He claims that she is a motherly type angel who floats around in a glowing white dress and throws gold dust upon the people from a bag she holds in her arms. This same angel has been in Lakeland, in fact, she was the center of attention in the early days of this “Revival”. The roots of this angel are in a Japanese cult and she is false!
In 1991, this same Bob Jones was removed from the Anaheim Vineyard Church for sexual impropriety. He was telling women who came to him for a word to go in to his office, disrobe and stand naked before the Lord if they wanted to receive a Word from the Lord. You see, in the KC “Revival” it came to the place where no one sought a Word from the Lord through the Scriptures, but instead they all carried around their notebooks filled with the words that the various KC prophets had given them.
Now this same Bob Jones has been mentoring Todd Bentley from behind the scenes in Lakeland. He even prophesied to him that 13 wise virgins would carry this Lakeland “Revival” forth. Therefore Todd Bentley called up a group of teenage girls, laid hands on them and prayed for an impartation. When you think of naked women and wise virgins, do you not see a red flag? I might add that this same Bob Jones is one that so many Believers have on a pedestal and they hang on to each and every word that he speaks. It is unreal!
Paul Cain was another of the KC prophets, who many years ago prayed about marrying his girl friend. He claims that he was told by God not to marry and if he would be obedient in this he would never be tempted with sexual sin of any kind. He obeyed the voice even though many in leadership told him that he had not heard the voice of God but that of a false spirit. He refused to listen!
Years later it became obvious that he was having behavioral problems and his peers spoke with him about it. He flatly denied it at first but finally admitted that he had been struggling with homosexuality and alcoholism for an extended period of time. He submitted to counseling for a very short period of time but finally gave it up.
On May 3rd, Paul Cain was invited to come to the Lakeland “Revival” and speak a blessing over it and confirm that it was of God. Of all the KC prophets, he was considered to be the most accurate. After he pronounced the blessing he told all of the people that there had been rumors about him in the past and they were all false. He told them that he had led a chaste life.
Although Todd did not give him the microphone again, he allowed the lie to stand as truth. All of the folks present, and all watching by internet, were clueless to this man’s true character or behavior.
This same Paul Cain has been a follower of Wm. Branham, who claimed that when a certain angel came in to his meetings he could heal people, but when that angel was not there he could heal no one. He did not believe in Hell, and he did not believe in the Trinity or a Triune God. He also believed that everything that happened spiritually happened through the Zodiac, the Greek Pyramids and the Scriptures. Paul Cain has always claimed that he received a double portion of this man’s anointing.
John Wimber, who founded the Vineyard Church, said before he passed away that he was deceived by both Bob Jones and Paul Cain. Thank God that John Wimber’s eyes were opened and he was restored to God before his passing. It is my prayer that both Bob Jones and Paul Cain will have their eyes opened, repent and be restored to God, before they leave this earth. Both of these men have had serious health problems..
Mike Bickle said about these two men, as the KC “Revival” collapsed, “I have put too much faith and trust in these men and the end is disastrous.”
The thousands who are flocking to these meetings haven’t a clue as to the character of the men who mentor Todd behind the scenes. They are allowing Todd and people they know nothing about to lay hands on them for impartation so they can carry the anointing back to their home towns. I can’t help but wonder what spirit is being imparted and what anointing is being transferred. There is a strong spirit of perversion there, a seducing spirit. It is my prayer that they all be set free and that Todd grow and mature in the Lord and in His Holy Word.
The Lord said of the Lakeland meetings, “They are running after healing and experiences, they are not running after Me!” In looking at some of the violent actions that have taken place from that platform it is obvious that it is not the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the comforter. Looking at the nine gifts of the Spirit we see a ‘spirit of gentleness’, not a ‘spirit of violence’.
There was an elderly lady, crippled, sitting in a wheel chair. Todd said that the gift of faith came on him and he was told to beat her legs on the floor until she was healed and he did. Another elderly lady was sitting with her eyes closed and arms lifted as she worshipped the Lord. Todd said that he was told to kick her in the face with his biker boots on and he did.
Another time he was told to charge across the room and plow in to a man and when he did he knocked him down and a tooth flew out of his mouth. Another man was choked! Another time Todd was told to leg drop the Pastor so the Spirit would begin to move and he did. Do you see a ‘violent spirit’ at work here?
The sad part of this was all of the adults sitting there watching all of this and enjoying it. It was as though they were watching some sort of a violent sport! It was nauseating to say the least.
I find it quite interesting that man is calling His people to come to Lakeland when Abba is calling His people to come spend time alone with Him. It is also interesting that at a time when Abba is calling His people to come away from those who are marketing in His House, come away from the greedy manipulators, and pay off all credit card debts, thousands are flocking to Lakeland where they have just installed ATM machines to assist them in their giving.
I will not tell anyone not to go to these meetings, but I will ask you to take what I’ve shared to prayer and hear His heart, and then do as you feel led to do. I have simply shared the warning I was given to speak through this newsletter.
Short Term Missions
I am almost out of space so I would ask that you pray for Janet Wilker as she goes first to the Ukraine and then on to St. Petersburg, Russia. Don’t forget Pastor Sadie and her team as they leave for Trinidad. Janet Watkins is leaving on mission to Figi, and I will be leaving for China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Please continue to pray for the Brewers during their time of transition. May Abba’s plans and purposes be accomplished through all of these missions. God Bless You All!
myrnamiddleton@yahoo.com / www.fairhavensmissions.org