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The Church Is Missing The Mark


How can the Church reach out and share Jesus with the unsaved? How can she get their attention? How can you do your part, as a disciple of Christ, to take Him to others who need Him?

These are some of the most compelling questions on the minds of many well-meaning believers at this time. They want to see the Church expand, ‘take ground’ for Jesus, grow and be physically successful.

It seems that the Church is making little headway against the onslaught of worldliness, materialism and hopelessness that Satan has birthed. How can she push back the gates of hell?


God’s Priorities At This Time

The first question to be answered is: Should she really be trying to push back the gates of hell? Is her objective on earth to physically expand, get bigger, with more converts, and gain greater influence?

Those questions are answered in the article Souls, Souls, Souls. You may be surprised to know that Jesus’ concerns are not those which are upper- most in most evangelists’ minds!

These are two of the statements Jesus has spoken to me in this context:

  • A preacher's success is not rated by the number of people he reaches, but by the depth of repentance he teaches.

  • I am not found in the institutions of men.

The latter statement came when I was writing to Derek Prince Ministries. They rejected the input Jesus gave me for them. This happens across ‘the board’!

There are many institutions which men have founded, called churches, and which Jesus is not happy with. Most churches fall into this category. When you understand the messages to the seven churches of Revelation, you will understand why.

Clearly, God’s objectives and priorities are not those of church leaders, who think that their churches should be expanding, not contracting. However, God is more interested in quality than quantity.

He is preparing a Bride for His Son. He is not creating megachurches for this age, to serve some purpose in converting the world now. Jesus called His flock, “little flock”. That’s lost on the majority.

When you understand the mind of God, and that His objectives are not those of man, you will be in a better position to hear more clearly from Him and know His will for your outreach.

This is elaborated upon in the article enclosed, Simple Evangelism.

There are great problems with the outreach of large ministries, where compromise with falsity is undermining their true spiritual success. Remember that God’s objective is not physical, but spiritual.

He promised the restoration of truth before the close of the age and the coming of Jesus in power. That restoration of truth is top of His agenda now. It’s at the forefront of God’s Work of ‘Elijah’ today, which was prophesied in Malachi 4:5-6.

Who were the only three whom God ‘translated’  – transmuted their physical bodies into spirit – mentioned in the Bible? Answer: Enoch, Moses, Elijah.

Why did He transmute them? Enoch: because he had been perfected in righteousness as far as was possible for him. Moses: because Moses had finished his task of leading Israel out of the falsity of Egypt and establishing truth at that time. Elijah: because he had done what God required of him in countering falsity and re-establishing truth in apostate Israel.

You see that the establishment of righteousness is of paramount importance to God. NOTHING PRECEDES THAT IN GOD’S PURPOSE. It’s not numbers; not size; nothing physical. Truth comes first.

It’s the establishment of truth and its acceptance which delivers people, setting them free from demonic bondages, from false concepts that enslave, and from every device of the enemy to destroy spirituality (Jn 8:32). Too many have neglected pure truth in their bid to do their part in God’s Work on earth.

In their zeal to win converts to Christ, what is really their objective? The spiritual, or the physical? Quite often it’s the latter: to build a bigger church.

That’s not Jesus’ objective. His is greater.


The Restoration Of Pure Truth

“I will send you Elijah the prophet...” were words of meaning for Israel, who awaited deliverance from captivity. How much more poignant they should be for spiritually-minded Christians today, awaiting Jesus’ spiritual coming to deliver from spiritual captivity!

Yet, it seems, another agenda takes precedence over God’s one. A counterfeit, usurping Jesus’ prerogatives as Deliverer, Saviour, Ruler. One which seeks to establish His throne now on earth through the power and influence of ‘the Church’.

There is something very wrong, howbeit subtle and undetected, with this mainly physical emphasis. It is a discreet substitution of His purpose by men who have gone forth in His name – many of them making names for themselves in the process, elevating them and making them famous.

In the feverish activity to “save the lost at any cost”, Jesus has become more hazy, while the performers who have come in His name are more lifted up and distinctive. They are eclipsing Him by their own fame.

Yet, Elijah was promised to restore – not fame to men – but the Way of Truth.

When John the Baptist prepared the Way before Jesus, he hammered the religious ones about their hypocrisy and self-righteousness (Lk 3:7-9). They were so misguided. So John’s message of repentance trod on toes and hurt ears.

So does Elijah’s today. Restoring truth that has been lost to the Church is not popular and accepted. Every true prophet has been criticised harshly for truth’s sake, by those who resisted it.

Do you think it’s any different today? I mean, in the Church? If so, you are naive and ill-informed.

It isn’t surprising that humans, being what they are (even when converted), do not want to be told where their beliefs are out of line with truth. They prefer to shut down the bringer of pure truth, and hold onto what is more convenient, and what they are used to. It doesn’t stop Elijah’s work, although it hinders it.

At this time, misconceptions and false beliefs abound from ministries and churches. Elijah’s work wields the axe against the falsity, preparing the Way by chopping down everything that obstructs pure truth.

We outline in Wielding The Divine Axe eleven areas of church teaching which are being corrected in this restoration.

God has given many dreams to my wife and me – as well as to others overseas – confirming MM’s commission from God. This is merely one:

3rd Dec 2000. Helena. Clearing the path to Aylesbury
In this dream the country lane was overgrown, so I was clearing a way to Aylesbury with a strimmer [symbolic meaning].

In Africa, a number of evangelists there received revelations in dreams about this work of God, showing that I am appointed by Him as a prophet, and that MM’s work is restoring truth as prophesied in the Bible. (See Revelations From God About MM, What God Said About MM, His Face Shone in The Bible Speaks, Vol 4, More Than A Prophet, etc. I won’t repeat those revelations here.)

God confirms His word with signs following. The above contain some of those divine signs of the task we have been assigned.


Jesus’ Purpose

Jesus came to train disciples, not to build churches. That may tread on toes, but it’s true.

While He said that He would establish His Church (Matt 16:18), He didn’t mean an organisation but a spiritual organism. The true Church is composed of those who are led by His Spirit (Rom 8:14,9).

This is a very individual calling, not a corporate one. Jesus leads each person who submits to Him.

Yet, we find today that many Christians submit to church leaders and not to Christ. Cults have taken over what Jesus intended to be ‘My Church’. Because of this blasphemous transition – which was prophesied (Is 52:5) – Jesus wants churches dismantled, His people set free, and able to follow Him more fully.

The thrust of Christian evangelism today is the opposite. It has ended up ‘churching’ folk. Christianity has become churchianity. It’s lost what was intended.

Jesus is no longer Number One. The human organisation has become Number One, and Jesus only secondary. It’s idolatry. Because of this transition, and other aspects of rebellion, the Great Tribulation is coming to destroy all that men have established in defiance of God’s Word. Every stone shall be thrown down (Matt 24:2).

These institutions of men, called ‘churches’, are not what Jesus intended. He didn’t say it is OK for men to rule over His chosen. It’s an abomination! This is fully covered in God’s Church – Whose Authority?

Truth is shocking! Only half of the people that go under the banner of ‘the Church’ will be saved (Matt 25:2, 8-12). Half choose lawlessness, not obedience.

The Church is not preparing people for what is coming! It’s shallow teaching may introduce people to Jesus, but not prepare them for Tribulation, suffering, and martyrdom. Consequently, many will fall away, as Jesus tragically foretold (Matt 24:9,10). Many are being deceived, likewise, just as He said (24:4,5,11).

In this climate of confusion, He sends a ‘crier’, a prophet, to show the way, but who listens? Very few care for pure truth. Most are too self-willed to receive correction or redirection. But the Midnight Cry goes out nonetheless (Matt 25:6). And Jesus will come, and the door will be closed in the faces of the foolish who were too preoccupied with other things to listen.

Yes, Jesus’ purpose is to prepare a Bride in His righteousness and truth. He wants a HOLY Church, uncompromised, willing to accept and do ALL He says.

The questions for each believer now, at this late hour, are: Will you live by every word of God? Or will you reject this witness and be rejected at His coming?

For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified (Rom 2:13).

See Dreams From God below, click here.

 

Souls, Souls, Souls

This is the slogan or swansong of mega-evangelists. But it is not right. Here is what is wrong with it. Look at what Benny Hinn says, as an example.


Benny Hinn writes in his January 2007 partner letter: “As we begin a new year, I want to again remind you that the great cry of God’s heart is for SOULS, SOULS, SOULS!”

I want to again remind you that it isn’t! That’s a half-truth. As I wrote in Newsletter 35, June 2006:

“If God were interested in numbers, He’s doing a lousy job of saving the world! Most of the world is steeped in superstition, deception and false religion of all shades. And for those who think that Christians are excepted, that very supposition is evidence of their own blindness of which Jesus warned (Matt 24:4,5).

“The truth is that Jesus is not failing. He said that His Kingdom is NOT of this world (Jn 18:36). So, He is not desperate to save most people now. He is fully in control. It is part of His scheme of things to allow massive deception to engulf the majority. Paul revealed God’s mind on the matter:

“For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).

“While Paul was referring to Israel – the people of God at that time – his words outline a major principle in God’s working with humanity.

“This principle is not understood by many preachers.” (MM Newsletter 35, p 1.)

Look at this revealing statement of God’s mind:

...And the Lord added [to the Church] daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).

If God were trying to save all – “SOULS, SOULS, SOULS!” – then surely He was failing!

No, He wasn’t failing. God doesn’t fail. It’s clear that HE    WASN’T TRYING TO CALL AND CONVERT ALL! Each person who was called was individually selected. That’s what Jesus said in John 6:44.

Selection – “ELECTION” as Paul wrote – is the method God employs in this age. In the Millennium it will be “SOULS, SOULS, SOULS!” But not now.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

...knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God (1 Thes 1:4).

And to the Romans:

...that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calls (Rom 9:11).

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” (Rom 9:14,15.)

But the zealous mega-evangelist, only equipped with part truth and a compromised gospel, races off to reach everyone and anyone. If that’s all he can do, that’s fine. God foreknows what he will do, and He uses him accordingly. But ‘SOULS, SOULS, SOULS’ is a half-truth, and half-truths are lies – subtle errors, untruths. Look where this half-truth leads.


Leading To Money

To simplify the ‘cry’ of the evangelists’ letter, it is this: “God is desperate to reach all the people in the world before they die. Those we don’t reach are going to burn in agony in hell forever. So, we’ve got to get to them now! To do that I need money, and lots of it, to achieve the task. So send me your money.”

Apart from the ridiculous fallacy that people are going to burn in hell forever if they don’t hear the gospel (truth about hell is explained in Why Hell?), and the other lie that God is anxious to reach and call all people now, it leads to the next logical point of how are we going to do it (reach people)?

In Benny Hinn’s case, he has been given gifts to use in his outreach. He has followed on in the footsteps of Kathryn Kuhlman, and in many ways has mimicked what she did by using stage performances as the means of contact. That’s his choice. Certainly he reaches millions by this method, coupled with TV. There are dangers in that.

Firstly, he is lifted up. He has become like a superstar. Secondly, it isolates him a great deal from the common man. There is insufficient interaction with ordinary people and lack of proper follow-up.

I have written a number of letters to his organisation over the years. There has never been an adequate response. He was given a dream of Jezebel in his ministry and the dangers this evil spirit poses to him. (Explained in Benny Hinn’s Dream of Jezebel.) I brought up this subject with him in writing, but my letter didn’t even reach him, because some Jezebel-infested person in his organisation made sure it didn’t get further than the shredder!

Thirdly, Benny is isolated and prevented from receiving necessary input from prophets. Prophets whom God is using – are not in his organisation, they are outside it. But he is blind to that. So, he is cut off from part of the knowledge and will of God.

Hence the problems we are mentioning.

To get back to the gist of his letter. Basically, it is asking for money. Money has become a central aspect. This becomes a dangerously false emphasis.

His letter states:

“Like Paul the apostle, we should cry, ‘That I might by all means save some’ (1 Cor 9:22). [That’s fine. Nothing wrong with that.]

“As you sow your most generous seed today to help fulfil our mission be sure to include your prayer requests. Amazing, supernatural things can happen when people come into agreement...” (See Prayer Of Agreement in The Bible Speaks, Vol 1, p 19.)

When Jesus delivered His parable of the sower sowing the seed, He was not talking about money (Matt 13). He was talking about the Word of God – God’s truth. THAT is the primary thing of greatest importance to God. THAT is what is protected by the people of God, and against which the devil and the world’s ‘sea’ come to try and destroy (Rev 12). So, to substitute God’s emphasis and give the ‘seed’ a human and carnal emphasis is almost blasphemy. If it’s deliberate, it IS blasphemy. Benny Hinn doesn’t do it deliberately. Some other evangelists do. Their motivation is to get money, for themselves, not just to spread what little they know of God’s Word.

Also strongly implied in his words above is the devilish suggestion that if you give money to Benny Hinn Ministries, you are thereby coming into agreement with them, and can expect God to perform a miracle for you. In crude terms, “Give us what we want (money), and there’s a better chance that God will give you what you want (deliverance, healing).” This is no better than the Catholic indulgences of the Dark Ages when superstition ruled big time. It’s subtle, mind you, not as blatant as the Catholic ruse – and which is how the Catholic Church became immensely wealthy, as it still is today. It has not renounced its dishonest wealth. It is still dishonest.

The ploy works, of course, otherwise these evangelists wouldn’t send out their letters with flyers asking for response, and making suggestions about monetary amounts (big amounts, they don’t want small sums that are derisory). But it’s looking to man and mammon, not to God and to Christ.

A ministry that is honestly faith-orientated does not ask for money. It asks God, and God, who holds all wealth in His hands, provides. He may not provide for big, flamboyant stage performances, but He gives you what you need to do His will.

The trouble is, all the charismatic evangelists and their organisational entourage are out of step with the will of God, and are defying Him in the way they operate. Their operations are not run on faith and truth, but humanly.

God foreknew that this compromise would take place, and He allows it because He does not remove a person’s free moral agency. He lets all the ‘big men of God’ make mistakes that He might humble them all. No one is going to enter God’s Kingdom as a high and mighty ‘evangelist’, if that term means you are lifted above others in human pride. You and I are only going to enter God’s Kingdom with the attitude and demeanour of a little child (Matt 18).

Elisha performed twice as many miracles as Elijah (he had a ‘double portion’ of God’s Spirit), and perhaps God had to let him die of sickness (2 Ki 13:14,20) for that reason – humbling (Ps 119:67, 71).

Benny Hinn’s partner letter (end of 2006) blatantly begs:

“...I have committed 2007 to be the year of ‘winning the lost at any cost’. And I am asking you more than ever to support the work of the Gospel so we might continue winning the lost at any cost around the world.”

He ends with this plea:

“Will you help me finish 2006 strong with your tax-deductible, year-end seed?”

Then he quotes Luke 6:38, which, although a highly relevant principle, should not be used as a manipulative lever to extract funds from gullible folk. Manipulation is the first ‘seed’ of the working of the evil spirit of Jezebel, about which Benny was warned in a dream. But no one who understands his dream has been able to reach him and warn him of what God means.

So he carries on performing an abomination – plying financial supporters with letters to subtly coerce them into parting with money to him. The cause might be laudable, but the method is not.


A Wrong Emphasis

Returning to what Paul said to the Romans:

...that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him who calls (Rom 9:11).

In context, Paul was addressing salvation for new believers who still had a strong works-oriented psychology – because that was the emphasis under the Old Covenant. It was what Judaism taught. He had to wean them off such an emphasis, so they realised the greater value of the Spirit. For, as Zechariah reminds us of God’s words: It is “not by [human] might nor by [financial] power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4:6) that the work of God is accomplished.

However, evangelists like Benny Hinn – who relies upon God for the miracles on stage – also need to rely upon Him for their financial supply, not look to man. By asking his supporters, a reversion has taken place akin to what Paul condemned back then – a reliance upon human works.

Is that God’s fault? Let Paul answer.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ...“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy” (Rom 9:14,15.)

Remember, God is NOT trying to call everyone now. If He were, Paul would never have written what he did in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. Nor would he have said this in relation to whom He selectively calls:

Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens (Rom 9:18).

That’s not the theology that mega-evangelists promote! Theirs is SOULS, SOULS, SOULS! Do you believe the lie that if limitless funds were poured into their efforts, they could convert the whole world now? If so you are sorely deluded. God has other priorities.

There is another Work of God on earth today that is MORE important than the work of evangelism. It is Elijah’s (Mal 4:5-6) but most do not care for the work of Elijah, just as their predecessors didn’t. 

 

The Charismatic Deception

The power of God, used aright, brings deliverance. But seeking power for its own sake leads to deception and brings a curse.


Some years ago, a charismatic believer gave me a copy of a book which was introduced as “A Divine Revelation of the Coming Revival”. The Next Move Of God was written by a well-known lady in charismatic circles, Fuchsia Pickett.

I gratefully accepted the book and read it. It contained a mixture of truth and error, fact and fiction – as is the case throughout the charismatic movement. In the charismatic church there is true and false, and the false contaminates the true.

Mixture is a deadly thing, as we know from the episode in the Garden when Satan contaminated truth with his suggestive questions, half truth and deceit. Where God gives revelation in considerable quantity – as it has been throughout the charismatic church – people complacently and arrogantly tend to think that there could be no or little error with it. But:

...where envy [pride and selfish ambition drive envy] and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there (James 3:16).

Tragically that is the case with the audience to whom Fuchsia Pickett was writing in her book. Excesses and pursuit of ‘revival’ experiences for their own sake, as we have witnessed at Toronto (denounced by Paul Gowdy, an ex-Toronto Vineyard pastor, see Coming Out of the Toronto Deception from MM, and also challenged in our book Testing The Spirits), have played right into Satan’s hands. When you analyse what was taking place, here is the nub of it:

  • The desire to be ‘part of the action’, where God is at work; the desire to be successful. This can be from a wrong motive – the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16).

  • The itch to get ‘a spiritual experience’ – the lust of the flesh (ibid.).

  • And the hunger for something new, exciting, gratifying, that you see others ‘enjoying’ – lust of the eyes (ibid.)

All these are not from Above (ibid.), but are:

...earthly, sensual, demonic (James 3:15).

It’s hard to stomach when you have been IN such a move – believed wholeheartedly to have been of God – to come to realise that it was so misguided:

...having eyes full of an adulteress [margin], and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness (2 Pet 2:14-15).

This is not just my claim. It was revealed in dreams from God (see the following pages). We have published some of these dreams in:

1. Dreams From God About The Charismatic Church;
2. The
Charismatic Church Shrine;
3. A Message To Charismatics, etc.

God gave a pastor’s wife in the USA a vision in which she saw lots of whitish papers – representing God’s revelations in dreams, prophetic words, etc. – coming down from heaven. They looked light as they descended, but when they piled up on the ground (it was a large pile) they became dark.

In other words, while God gave much prophecy it became contaminated by wrong emphasis, pride, self-seeking, self-glorification, ambition and other bad human character traits. God gave it to promote righteousness (pure and white), but it ended up promoting a compromise of good and evil (grey).

Many false ministers ‘adorn’ the charismatic church’s portals. They have controlled and influenced what has come in and gone out. Hence the corruption.

Once again, it’s hard for many to believe these words could apply to ministers they highly respect:

These, like natural brute beasts, made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you... (2 Pet 2:12,13).

They mouth great swelling words (Jude 16) that appeal to pride – they want to impress. But the deceit in this pride is lost on the majority. Under the facade lurks a demonic counterfeit, a lie. (Explained in Apostasy in God’s Church, and Testing The Spirits.)

Fuchsia Pickett was influenced by these men (and women) who deceive with impressive words. As a result, some of the conclusions of what God told her have been contaminated. For example, she says:

I think today I can hear God say, “My people, heaven’s windows are opened. The blessings are being poured forth now. They will continue throughout this year, throughout this decade [nineties] and into the next century. My glory is going to come forth in a continually greater measure.” We won’t have to say God is moving in Canada or Florida or California; in England, Germany or Argentina. We will be able to say it is happening right where we are.

God is visiting His people again. The floodgates are about to open, bringing a heaven-sent, gully-washing, sin-killing revival... There will be such a shout of victory... We won’t have to fight the ungodly leaders of the world [we shouldn’t be doing that, anyway; Jesus’ gospel is apolitical]. God Himself will take care of them. There will be a great toppling. As the walls of Jericho came down with the sound of the trumpet and a shout (Josh 6:20), so the walls of wickedness in our country are coming down.

There will be a clamping down on violence and wickedness in the media and an end to the destruction wrought by those who stood against marriage and for abortion. The army of God – His Church – is going to march through this nation [USA] and bind the powers of darkness, praising the name of our Lord as He releases the spirit of liberty upon our nation. ...I believe the Church will become a mighty river that floods the earth until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers it. (The Next Move Of God, p 175.)

That is a miscomprehension, an illusion, a lie.

She ends with this rallying call:

“Move back, gates of hell! Here comes the Church!”

This sort of triumphalistic emphasis permeates the charismatic mentality. It contains very physical elements: large numbers of people, physical size of the Church, predominance in influence, etc. Analyse it and see that it’s a power-based message! The real truth is the reverse: the true Church is relatively small and persecuted, put down, rejected and despised.[1]

Truth is not palatable. The purer it is, the less acceptable it is. The majority (of the Church) reject it.


They Speak Evil Of...

In Peter’s discourse on the influence of false ministers amongst believers, he says:

...[they] speak evil of the things they do not understand (2 Pet 2:12).

Truths that God is restoring as part of Elijah’s end-time work are alien to them. They grew up with a different theology, with false concepts about some basic biblical truths. So, when we present ‘new’ truth to them, they reject it. I even wrote to Fuchsia Pickett several years before she died in 2004, but, like all the other charismatic leaders to whom we have written, ‘our’ message from God sounded strange to their ears, and they rejected us. Fuchsia – also like most others whom we contacted – didn’t even reply.

She gives a salient warning in her book:

God spoke a startling message to me one night as I was ministering in a church in North Carolina. He declared: “I will not, I will not, I will not allow anyone who touches My plan, My program, My prophets or My prophecy to be a part of, or participate in, the next move of God.” (p 61.)

A threefold repetition is the most emphatic and final which God can give! The present ‘players’ on stage don’t see the “I will nots” applying to them. For this reason, God is departing from men like Reinhard Bonnke, Morris Cerullo, and other mega-evangelists. They – and numerous others like them – have either not recognised, or ignored, or rejected and opposed the work of Elijah that God is doing in restoring truth which the Church needs more than any evangelists!

They have even spoken evil of the next move of God, which centres on the restoration of forgotten biblical truths, and a repentance that accepts ALL God’s Word, not just the parts that are palatable.

They spoke evil of God’s prophets, spoke evil of the restored truths I brought them, and removed me from their mailing lists, because they refused to accept the additional truth God offered them.

It’s ironic that Fuchsia did the very thing she was so vehemently warned by God not to do. But, perhaps because she aspired to be a central player in the anticipated revival, that very aspiration caused her to be blind to the next move of God in its infancy.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jer 17:9.)

The subtlety of wrong motives, as mentioned on the previous page, leads many otherwise well- meaning believers into doing Satan’s work, obstruct- ing or opposing the next move which God instigates.

Repentance is an ongoing responsibility for all.

For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged (1 Cor 11:31).

But, the more elevated a person becomes, and the more acclaim they receive, the more unassailable they feel they are. A ‘position’ in human estimation is a precarious thing. It is based on pride. And pride always precedes a fall. So, it’s not wise to be a sage in the eyes of man. Better to have God’s approval alone. God’s wisdom is not accepted.

To those who aspire for human success – as do many charismatic church leaders – God says:

My son, pay attention to My wisdom; lend your ear to My understanding (Prov 5:1).

For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two- edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life – her ways are unstable (Prov 5:3-6).

Don’t ponder the path of life of the charismatic church. She is an immoral woman. Her ways are unstable. She promotes deception. 

 

Simple Evangelism


One problem with large-scale evangelism, like that of Reinhard Bonnke’s (see Pitfalls of Reinhard’s Ministry), is that the evangelist has become lifted up. In the eyes of many people he has become a hero, an elevated individual, a celebrity. He has been raised to a different level from the ‘common’ individual.

But he is not on a higher level in God’s eyes. Everything that has become lifted up by man has to be brought down by God:

For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up – and it shall be brought low (Is 2:12).

God gives and God takes away. Where élitism occurs in the Church, God will destroy it, or it will destroy the Church. Because, the Church is not the buildings, the structure, the institution, and all that goes with those things; it’s the ordinary people. And He wants you and me to:

Fulfil my joy by being likeminded (Phil 2:2).

You soon find out that the big-name evangelists are not likeminded when you try to contact them. They won’t fellowship with you on the same level. They generally have to be on stage, and you down below, on the ground level. Either they do not consider themselves on the same level, or their position has put them up higher where they are unreachable.

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself (Phil 2:3).

For decades I looked up to ministers as if they were on a higher spiritual plane than me. That was an illusion. God showed me it was a fallacy.

But, even so, men like Reinhard Bonnke, Benny Hinn, Luis Palau, and others who have reached many millions of people for the Gospel, have had my great respect for their work’s sake and for the achievements of their lives. However, that should not cloud our judgement of God’s estimation of them. In comparison with you or me, how do they compare? Paul repudiated such comparisons as futile, unwise, unhelpful and counter-productive (2 Cor 10:12). The truth is that, just because such men have reached many more in their work, does not mean they are spiritually superior to you or me. God looks on things differently to the way we view them humanly.

The spiritual viewpoint is not the physical viewpoint. The humble person is the most celebrated in God’s count (Is 66:2), not the one who has reached the most people for the Gospel.

If you take a discerning look through the New Testament, you see that Jesus elevated godly women. Why? Because society put them down. He commended the woman who wept over Him, washing His feet with her hair (Lk 7:44). He praised what Mary did, lavishing expensive perfume on Him (Matt 26:6-13; Jn 11:2). He extolled the sacrifice of the poor widow at the temple treasury (Mk 12:43).

Women in many societies are still terribly put down, undervalued, and underappreciated. Yet it is a woman who portrays allegorically the Church and all that is good with the Church. And in symbolic dreams God frequently portrays oppressive church leaders, false ministers, and the unconverted as men.

God invariably likes to turn the tables on wrong concepts and incorrect approaches.

For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Lk 16:15).


The Evangelist’s Contribution

Is there not division in the Church because of the elevation of evangelists, preachers, ministers? You bet there is!

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (1 Cor 1:10).

We don’t see a harmonious Church today. It is fractured into thousands of pieces, and most of the problem has been caused by leaders. Self, pride and ambition have been chief factors in spawning this state of affairs. Human nature hasn’t changed since Ezekiel’s time. And the lesson Ezekiel 34 teaches us is about ministers fleecing the people instead of feeding them. Falsity abounds today in churches!

What’s the use of evangelists bringing in new converts into churches rife with contention, pride, error, deception, ministerial superiority, élitism, and where so-called ‘servants of God’ jockey for position?

Look at the lesson of the widow:

Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much (Mk 12:41).

So it is with the capable and extrovert, who often aspire to ministerial positions. They are able to contribute much to the temple treasury. I don’t mean in fiscal terms. I hope you get my ‘drift’.

Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites [very small copper coins] (12:42).

So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood” (12:43,44).

Jesus considered her contribution very great! So it is with evangelism. Your personal example goes a lot further than the ‘preach’ standing on his platform. It’s the light of your life which can penetrate the darkness of others’ lives. Your sacrifice speaks greater volumes than many soap box sermons.


The Calling Of A Disciple

I hope you realise that you are called to be a disciple of Jesus. As a disciple, you are in all respects the same as your Discipler. If you don’t believe that, read John 14:12-14 and Luke 6:40. You are not divine, of course. I don’t mean that. I mean that you can do, and should do, what Jesus did as a human being. He showed compassion, love, sacrifice, and personal discipline.

A disciple is one disciplined to live precisely like the Discipler. It’s a tall order, but one we should consistently aim for. Perfection is the goal (Matt 5:48).

As one called by Jesus, He commissioned you:

Go therefore and make disciples... (Matt 28:19).

How can you make disciples?

Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (28:20).

And if you do that, He promises to be with you always (28:20b).

Evangelism is for all disciples, not just for evangelists.

Philip was a deacon (Acts 6:5), but he evangelised and many heeded his words (Acts 8:5-8).

You don’t need a position. You need the Spirit. With the Spirit of Jesus going with you, He does the miracles, and those works do a work of conviction.

The multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed (Acts 8:6-7).

It wasn’t because Philip was an evangelist that he evangelised. He wasn’t an evangelist back then. He was a deacon, doing menial work serving the Church. When he reached out to others, God backed him up, and that’s when he became an evangelist (Acts 21:8). I hope you see how God works.

You don’t evangelise because you are an evangelist. You evangelise because God is with you. When He uses you to bring others to Him, you become an evangelist.

Many hanker after the ‘position’. But there is no position! In their vanity, such people think being an evangelist is being elevated. Silly fools! It’s the opposite of that. It’s laying down your life for others. It’s making yourself of no repute, so that you can win others to Christ, like Paul did.

A lady who meets in our home fellowship was told in a prophetic word about 14 years ago that she would have a healing ministry. 14 years later she now does. God trained her through her life of labour and love for Jesus, so that she is equipped to serve the body in the unique way God can use her.

When demons are present, she hears a clicking noise in her left ear. People, even believers, need deliverance from demons. So in teaching others to put their faith in Jesus, she can help them be delivered from demons and receive their healing.

She doesn’t have a public platform. There’s no soap box, no advertising, no microphone, no loud speakers, no fanfare, no razzmatazz. It’s all very simple. She has shared Jesus individually with her workmates, challenging them about belief in God, about the power and grace of Jesus, and given them some MM publications for food for thought. With that introduction, Jesus backs her up, giving a dream to each person, or to her about the person. This super- natural element brings a new dimension into their life, just like Philip brought to the Samaritans.

She wasn’t ordained an evangelist. She took her ‘marching orders’ in the humble workplace of a school kitchen. But on cost-effectiveness she is more effective than Reinhard Bonnke or any big-time evangelist who needs mega-money to reach the masses. She doesn’t depend upon money to reach the ‘lost’. She depends upon the Spirit.

God leads her to people now outside her work- place, and will lead her further afield as time elapses.

The early Church expanded in the same way, by individuals reaching individuals. There was no mega-money, no loud speakers, no microphones, no razzmatazz. They were simple disciples, doing simple evangelism.

It’s time for change in today’s perverted world. And there’s nothing more perverted today than some of the concepts the Church has inherited. Reliance upon money; reliance upon personalities; reliance upon programmes – it’s all perverse! It’s not of God!

If all disciples were to be self-disciplined as Jesus was, they would see the power of God move more powerfully and effectively than before. A team of such self-disciplined individuals, sold out to God, would achieve far more than all the big names on the world’s evangelical stages!

Fired up by God’s Spirit inside, with the flames of love for Jesus burning, the light of Jesus in you can have more impact than big celebrations that tend to have an emotional impact for the moment.

YOU are the light of the world (Matt 5:14).

Jesus was the main Light of the world and He wasn’t a silent witness. His Light spoke, too. So, let your light do its work as Jesus commanded (Mt 5:16).

Further Reading: Witnessing For Christ (£2.00).

 

How To Impress

Many evangelists resort to human methods to try and reach people. They try and impress humanly. But what is truly impressive to God is not what impresses amn at all! And vice versa.


When I was in college, one of the coursework books offered was How To Win Friends and Influence People. The author was Dale Carnegie, whom we nicknamed Dale Carnality. And it was appropriate! For, if you seek to impress people, your motivation is selfish. You are trying to buy them by false behaviour which is carnal, fleshly.

To impress, you have to maintain a ‘front’, a false image of yourself. You try and appear good or in some way appealing to them. That is humbug. You become a pretender, a fraud, a fake.

You can see this frequently in politicians who are trying to win people to themselves, to impress others for selfish advantage and gain. And many of them resort to lies, cunning deceit, and trickery to get what they want – a following.

“Trust me” they say.

God says, “Trust no man” (Jer 17:5; Ps 146:3).

Jesus warned, “Beware of men..!” (Matt 10:17).

You are not called to follow men per se. You are called to follow Christ, the Saviour of humanity.

When Paul wrote: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Cor 11:1), he was not wanting a following for himself. He didn’t want people following him as such. He wanted to see people note that anything good in his example was as a result of Christ living in him by His Spirit (Gal 2:20). He was dead against sectarianism and cultism, when people follow others instead of Jesus (1 Cor 1:10-13).

Paul did not seek to impress as ordinary men do. He wrote:

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power (1 Cor 2:4). In presence [I] am lowly among you (2 Cor 10:1).

It’s hard to believe, but he was actually NOT at all impressive to people on a human level:

When I came to you, I did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling (1 Cor 2:1-3).

“For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.” (2 Cor 10:10.)

Paul wouldn’t have made a very good modern stage- or tele-evangelist! But he was highly qualified in handling the Word of God. He knew ‘his stuff’! He accurately conveyed God’s truth. That, of course, didn’t make him popular. Some might have considered him a bit of a bore if it hadn’t been for the accounts of the miracles God performed at his hands (Acts 15:12).

Paul knew his limitations, but he also knew that he held God’s truth in its purity, and that’s what matters most:

Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in [spiritual] knowledge... (2 Cor 11:6a).


Who Gets The Money?

People aren’t as interested in purity of truth today as they are in being entertained. So, the guys with the big followings are invariably false ministers (not all of them, but many of them) with a great ability to preach and shine charisma. Not the charisma that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 12, but the human version. They have learned the art of deception – how to win friends and influence people.

It begins with impressing others.

Tricksters like Rodney Howard-Browne, and his laughing spirits; false prophets like the Kansas City prophets, Rick Joyner, or Kenneth Copeland; and mega-evangelists and false teachers by the score have dominated the evangelical stage by using clever techniques of manipulation and persuasion. They can move audiences by what they say and how they say it. They touch hearts and minds, affecting, impacting and swaying them.

Because they are effective in their manner and speech, people listen, heed, and follow. The majority are not discerning enough to realise that the ‘truth’ they imbibe is mixed with error. They swallow that as well.

The performance artist is not bothered much about truth versus error. He’s bothered about ratings. What can he do to get what he wants? – the greatest number of people to listen to him, to believe him, and to support him. In one word – cash!

Out of this mentality has grown an evangelical mega-industry, with billions of dollars slushing around its coffers. Someone told me not so long ago that Rick Joyner claimed to have so much money – millions, I guess – that he ‘boastfully’ announced if any other ministry was short of funds they could ask him for a loan.

We are short of funds, but I wouldn’t ask him for a loan. I ask the One who has all the silver and gold at His disposal (Hag 2:8), and trust Him to provide, even if He lets us go short like the apostle Paul did at times (2 Cor 11:8-9).

Most people are foolish, like sheep, and make a completely wrong deduction. They think that the evidence of God’s support for these large ministries is in the money that pours in. And they assume that because they have all this wealth, they therefore have God’s approval, and must be true ministers. Because so many believers give their tithes to these men, new sheep gullibly sign up and make these (mostly) false ministers richer still!

It’s a pity humanity is so easily deceived by illusions, and physical appearance. It’s a pity they are ignorant of some facts. Instead of being so easily impressed by the wealth and influence of these megatricksters they should learn a few simple truths.

Wealth totals 666 in Greek. Tradition (following men) also adds up to 666 in the Greek NT text. And we are warned against accepting the mark of the beast or the number (666) of his name (Rev 13:17,18).

He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do... telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast... (Rev 13:14.)

The description portrays the beast of Rome, whose human government, achievements, conquests and domination impressed a lot of people. And the image represents an object of universal worship that is modelled on this beast. It has various fulfilments, but you cannot fail to see one in the monolith of the Catholic Church whose hierarchic government is a replica (image) of that of Rome’s civil domination.

The description also befits any other ecclesiastical set-ups and ministers whose impressive style or influence becomes an object of equal worship. ‘Charismatic Church’, and all big churches take heed!!


What Impresses God

So what, then, impresses God? If we are to beware letting men impress us in human terms, what, in spiritual terms, are we to be impressed by?

Here are 25 things that impress God in human conduct and character:

  • Whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:4).

  • Fear God and give glory to Him... (Rev 14:7).

  • Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” (Jn 1:47.)

  • Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ... that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel (Phil 1:27).

  • ...contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).

  • As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another... (1 Pet 4:11).

  • He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me... (Jn 14:21).

  • Give to every one who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, do to them likewise (Luke 6:30-31).

  • Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake (Luke 6:22).

  • Love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High (Luke 6:35).

  • By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (Jn 13:35).

  • Walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).

  • Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (Jas 1:27).

  • Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you (Jn 15:13-14).

  • By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 Jn 3:16).

  • Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord... (Rev 14:13).

  • Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rev 14:12).

  • [Do not seek elevation.] Do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brethren (Matt 23:8).

  • [Do not seek a following. Be like John the Baptist, who said,] He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn 3:30).

  • [Do not seek to impress] seeing that many boast according to the flesh... (2 Cor 11:18). Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet 5:6).

  • Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (1 Pet 4:19).

  • Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same mind (1 Pet 4:1).

  • Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (Heb 10:24).

  • By faith the elders obtained a good testimony (Heb 11:2).

  • We count them blessed who endure [in the hope of Christ] (Jas 5:11).

  • And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; the greatest of these is love (1 Cor 13:13).

So:

Cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast (2 Cor 11:12).

Further Reading: The Charismatic Church Shrine (50p).

 

Selwyn Hughes
1928-2006

What God revealed about the legacy of this well-known evangelist. There are MANY like him, preaching Jese, but whose theology is very suspect because it is incomplete! It can lead to complacency and losing salvation!


Selwyn Hughes founded Crusade For World Revival (CWR). CWR’s Newsletter summarises:

“It began with one man, Selwyn Hughes. Forty years ago something great was birthed with a few thoughts on the back of a postcard, a desire to help Christians to read the Word of God every day, a vision to pray for revival, a heart to help the hurting and broken, a commitment to come alongside others struggling in ministry and the hope that the gospel might feed a spiritually hungry world.” (CWR Today, Apr-June 2006, p 4.)


The Plaudits

“Selwyn Hughes died peacefully on 9 January [2006]. He is now with His Lord whom he served so faithfully, his life’s work complete; his legacy immense.

“Towards the end of 2005 Selwyn grew increasingly weak. Early in the New Year he was taken to a local hospice for assessment. Whilst there, his health further deteriorated and he was called home to glory. He was free from pain and very peaceful, telling those attending him that he had finished all that God had called him to do and that he was ready to go, looking forward with anticipation to meeting his Lord.

“Selwyn will be remembered as one of the UK’s greatest post-war Christian leaders. His remarkable ministry touched six decades and several generations. He excelled as pastor, teacher, counsellor and writer. He seems to have been in at the start of almost everything significant in church life in the UK for as long as anyone can recall – charismatic renewal, themed Bible reading notes, large-scale celebrations, tours of the Holy Land, prayer for revival, Christian counselling and even the use of the OHP!

“He authored more than 50 books, many of them expounding Christian truth and how to live the Christian life. Selwyn Hughes inspired, wrote and delivered a wide range of training courses, seminars and study guides. He travelled the world for 50 years teaching small groups of church leaders and massed crowds of many thousands. And, of course, his unremitting commitment in writing Every Day With Jesus is legendary. Even this very day nearly one million people in 130 countries will spend time with God, encouraged in their devotion by Selwyn’s words.

“But those are the headlines. Many friends, colleagues and readers will remember a dear man, compassionate correspondent, mentor and brother in Christ.

“September 2005 was a time of joyous celebration and lively anticipation for Selwyn. More than a thousand friends and supporters gathered at Waverley Abbey House to commemorate the 40th anniversary of CWR and Every Day With Jesus. The thronging crowd also heard details of an exciting ten-year vision that builds on four decades of extraordinary ministry and expands still further the reach and scope of CWR. Selwyn eagerly embraced what lay ahead and expressed his very real confidence in those to whom it would fall to perpetuate the ministry he began.

Selwyn knew his Lord was calling him home. Tellingly, he concluded the epilogue to his autobiography by saying, ‘There was a time nearly ten years ago when I said I was ready to go but eager to stay. Now, however, things are different. Now I am eager to go but willing to stay.’

“In June 2005 Selwyn received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Brunel University for ‘outstanding service to Christian education.’ This was fitting public recognition of his truly outstanding gift and ministry. Lord Carey took the opportunity to describe Selwyn as ‘a giant in the faith’.

“It gave him huge joy to preach in the Cardiff International Arena at the 100th Anniversary of the Welsh Revival, the event that had so impacted his own life and ministry.

“Selwyn will be terribly missed, but the immense legacy of his ministry ensures that the effects of his faith and passion for Christ will continue to touch and transform the lives of thousands upon thousands for years to come.” (CWR Today, Apr-June 2006, pp 1-2.)

But there’s a big problem!


Deceptive Legacy

The eulogy above is effectively worship. The man is being given adulation. What about his faults? What about the heresies that are still not ironed out in his teaching? What about the influence of those errors on the many thousands who will yet learn of ‘Biblical truth’ through his materials, but who will be given a distorted picture?

Of course, I realise that a deceived person cannot warn others about the deception to which he himself is subject. So it falls to another to point out deficiencies. If you have been around ‘the Church’ for a good number of years, you will know that such responsibility is the prophet’s lot.

When a prophet receives revelation from God about a church leader, don’t you think God considers the issue which He raises highly important? You bet!

Here is my account of what God showed me:

24th August 2006. M. Selwyn Hughes.

A friend had left with us a copy of CWR Today, the magazine produced by Crusade For World Revival (CWR), an organisation founded by Selwyn Hughes who died in January. Yesterday, Helena was looking at this and commenting to me. She said Selwyn was about 78 (6 x 13) when he died, which is significant. Was he a false minister? Considering his total lack of acknowledgement or response to several letters I wrote to him in the past, and how he promoted himself, I now had my reservations about him.

Not wanting to prejudge him or be wrong, before going to bed, I prayed that God would show me (if that is what He wanted to do). In the early hours I had a nightmare. It was frightening! [It was not clear whether I was put in SH’s position, or the position of some of those whom he taught.]

I was in a rectangular box and couldn’t get out [the trap of the teaching, or various lacks in it, in CWR’s ministry, and/or SH’s spiritual situation]. I felt I was lost, that my fate was irreversible. It was a state of utter hopelessness and fear. It was horrific! For about ten minutes (I guess) I felt this sheer panic and terror at the realisation that I had not made it into God’s kingdom and that I could not do so.

Then I woke up and realised – thankfully! – that this nightmare scenario was only a dream! It was so real and ghastly! Was God saying that Selwyn Hughes was NOT a true minister? Or was God trying to point out the horrendous trap that lies in impartial acceptance of the truth of God? SH preached about Jesus, and promoted some of what Jesus taught, but he didn’t preach the whole truth, and most of all, what he established was an institution (Waverley Abbey House) that glorified himself as much as Jesus. No one is exempt from the judgement of God, and His judgement is not going to be pleasant for many ministers who have taken the name of Christ to glorify themselves. (From MM’s Dream Diary.)

 

That is what I wrote immediately after the dream that morning. The dream is a stark warning from God! Jesus warned of those who could cause others to stumble:

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin [Gk skandalizo, to entrap, trip up, ensnare, stumble], it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea... Woe to that man by whom the offence comes! (Matt 18:6-7.)

What Jesus is talking about is something that comes to cause a potential child of God to stumble spiritually, and thereby not enter the Kingdom of God. There are various ways offences can come. In the present context, people can be seriously led astray by false teaching. If you are fed subtle heresy that speaks about Christ, but which denies Him – it sounds an impossible contradiction, but it happens throughout the Church where antinomian teaching replaces truth – believers who choose antinomian error rather than humble obedience will find themselves shut outside the door on the Fateful Day.

This is why Jesus warned so forcefully to beware of men bringing deception in His name (Matt 24:4,5), and why Peter prophesied of widespread destructive heresies that would deny the Lord who bought us (2 Pet 2:1), and why Paul also predicted a great falling away from truth (2 Thes 2:3).

It sounds almost heretical to suggest, but it is possible that many thousands, even millions, of Christians are headed for hell because they have chosen to accept a theology that is providing them licence to disobey God. Their belief in Jesus is such that it ‘allows’ them to indulge in unrighteousness without upsetting their conscience.

And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thes 2:11,12).

I wrote to Selwyn Hughes some years before his death. He advertised on the back page of The Plain Truth magazine. I warned him that by so doing he was associating with a cult which has very serious charges to answer to God. (Explained in God Speaks To The WCG.) He never acknowledged my letter.

Another time I wrote to him to notify him of how revival would come to Britain, for which he had been praying for decades. I informed him of what God had said about Diana being raised from the dead, and of the resultant witness to the nation for the purpose of restoring and publicising the ‘lost’ truths which the Church desperately needs to regain.

Again, there wasn’t a whisper of a reply; not even an acknowledgement in politeness.

When we wrote to Buckingham Palace, or 10 Downing Street, or Clarence House (Prince Charles’ residence), we received a brief reply. Why can’t a minister of God do that? Was Selwyn Hughes above that? Did he consider that he had all truth and so didn’t need to hear from me or anyone else?

Was he consumed with some sort of ambition that he didn’t care that he paid one of the worst cults for advertising space to promote his materials? Was CWR a vehicle that elevated HIM more than Christ?

A year or two after I notified him of the dreams about Diana’s resurrection as part of the last revival in this age, his glossy, plush magazine Revival World Report folded up. It’s a pity he couldn’t believe what God sent to him, to help him see more clearly.

When God sends a prophet and you reject the prophet, you reject the message he brought to you from God. You may not reject God completely, but it doesn’t please Him when you effectively say, “Thanks, God, but I’d rather not. You keep it.”

And if many thousands of people think that Selwyn Hughes was a paragon, that his teachings were without fault, or that they don’t need anything more, spiritually, is that not a recipe for failure? Is that not the Laodicean syndrome, which God cannot abide?! (Rev 3:16.) And is it possible that the legacy of Selwyn’s teaching is a dangerous mixture of truth and error that can deceive people into complacency and cause them to stumble? (Matt 18:6.)

Does it only lead into idolatry to publish a glowing obituary like the aforementioned? Where a man is lifted up, is not Jesus dethroned?

I would like to think that Selwyn Hughes was saved, and did make it into God’s kingdom. But you must not take lightly the warning God gave about the effect of his teaching. Some people are not going to make it into God’s kingdom BECAUSE of the subtle error in Selwyn Hughes’ teaching! Paul also warned about this in 1 Corinthians 3 (vs 10-18).

If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (1 Cor 3:17).

 

Some Revelations From God

God speaks through dreams to prophets He has appointed (Num 12:6), and to a lesser extent to believers whome He wants to reach. Here are a few dreams which are relevant in this context.

As I was writing this document, a prophetess in Ukraine sent me an e-mail containing some dreams which a Russian correspondent had sent to her. Where people are needy and hungry for God’s truths, God speaks, and dreams or night visions are one chief and effective means of His communication to us.

Through the imagery, God can convey much more than words alone. And, because the recipient is unconscious or semiconscious, God is able to convey accurately what He wants to, without the human mind interfering too much with the revelation, as can often be the case with prophetic words.

The dreams which Lyudmila forwarded to me are most apt in the context of the subject of this paper! Clearly, God is emphasising these matters. They are of great importance to Him, and He wants His children to heed!

Here is what the Russian brother wrote about his dreams. Mila translated it into English and added the appropriate comments following as comment:


Great Waters Shall Come

Dream 1: ...I and a conductor [or a steward, also a guide – the Russian word can mean any of the three]. The conductor says, “Land rats must become water [beings], lest they perish, for a great water shall come”.

Mila’s Comment: It can be a warning to ‘professing’ Christians (rats) about the upcoming trials. Rats (rodents) live to satisfy their own needs. Generally, they are of no use to others, but rather cause damage.

Dream 1: In short, the message of the ‘Conductor’ or ‘Guide’ (God’s messenger, i.e. a prophet – a true prophet speaks for God, so he represents Jesus in His Prophetic capacity) can be ‘translated’ as follows:

“Unspiritual ‘Christians’ who do not love Truth and do not listen to the Holy Spirit (because they are selfishly motivated) must learn to live by My Word and in the stream of My Spirit, or else they will PERISH (the second death, which is the last one), losing their salvation. For the Great Tribulation is coming SOON – a time when they will need a genuine faith and courage in suffering (something possible only with God’s help) to be able to stand in trials and remain faithful to their Lord.”

Mila’s Comment: Explanation of the imagery:

Jesus likened the upcoming trials to the coming of a great rain with a powerful wind and flood.

He said that a house built on the sand shall not stand (Mt. 7:26-27). The house, built on the rock is God’s Church (not a building or an organization, established by man, but Christ’s spiritual Body that consists of all true believers in whom His Spirit dwells). It stands on the foundation of the Rock of our Salvation – Jesus (on His Word, i.e. His Truth, His teaching).

However, the majority of Christian organizations that call themselves churches are like a house built on the sand. In them, the pure teaching of Christ is not being taught, and His Spirit is not allowed to lead believers (or only minimally). Such structures are going to fall, and their falling will be terrible!

As for superficial believers (rats), which have housed themselves very comfortably in those churches, who are not interested in God’s Truth, they will find themselves in the whirlpool of horrible events. These events are ordained by God to happen in order to purify and save from the second death many of such ‘nominal Christians’ through the fires of tribulation. Otherwise, they would have lost their salvation. (See Revelation 7:9-14; 12:1-17; 14:9-13; 20:4.)

The words that ‘land rats’ (spiritually dry Christians) must become ‘water [beings]’ (Spirit-filled), I see as a call to learn to live in the stream of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit and to be washed by the Water of the Word (Eph 5:26).

The warning about the upcoming great water (flood) is very significant. In this connection, may I remind you of Revelation 12:15, where the Dragon is after the Woman, sending a great flood to destroy her. This symbolism pictures persecution and tribulations, echoing Jesus’ warning in Mt. 7:26-27 above.


Efim Served: So, You Must Serve

Dream 2: A room with a big table; on the table – many geographic maps. There are two men beside the maps. I got up and sat down beside one of the men (he was lying on a bench at the table).

Then a woman came in and said: ‘Master has ordered’ – and handed one of them a scroll. The man lying [on the bench] got up, and together with the other one, they looked through the scroll. After that, they threw the scroll on the table, saying: ‘who needs this? This is useless.’

The woman took the scroll and turned to me. She said: ‘You read!’

The scroll contained a few rows, written as verses of a poem:

Ephim [or: Ethim?] served,
Ephim suffered,
And you, too, serve.

Mila’s Comment: I can see the symbolism of the dream as portraying self-will, arrogance, laziness and the lack of proper response of church leaders to prophetic messages, which express God’s will. In the symbolism of dreams, a woman often depicts a church (as a congregation of believers), or individual believers and ministries led by the Holy Spirit. Man in dreams often portrays church leaders, as well as stubborn and self-willed Christians, who do not listen to the Spirit’s leading. In this dream, I believe the two men symbolize your church leaders.

The room is a metaphor for your church, as a human structure. The table with the geographic maps on it may symbolize how many Christian evangelical ministries and churches make plans of ‘winning the world for Christ’. At the same time, one of them was shown lying on the bench – a picture of laziness and idleness. The other one did not seem to be doing much either. This means that they pretend to serve the Lord and His Church. They make a show of their service. In the eyes of the Lord, they do not serve properly! Hence, the prophetic message – the scroll, delivered by a woman! (I will come back to the woman later.)

The rows of verses represent a corrective message and a reproach by implication to your church leader. A shepherd’s duty is to SERVE, to take care of Christ’s flock. They must feed God’s people with the healthy food of pure Word of God (the teaching of Christ). Nevertheless, they do not do it! They have their own plans and their own viewpoint of what is important! Therefore, they DO NOT SERVE, from God’s point of view.

The second verse – Ephim suffered – reminds us about Jesus’ prophecies that His followers must be ready to suffer for His name. The past generations of Christians have suffered cruel persecutions, and many have died as martyrs.

A time is nearing, when we too, will have to go through similar trials. But modern preachers and church pastors are busy “fleecing the flock”. It is not profitable for them to teach such a message, which is unpleasant to an unspiritual ear and unpopular. They are concerned that people might dislike it and leave their church, which would mean: “good-bye money!”

The third verse is a direct command of God to all of us (and you personally) to follow the good examples of the previous generations of true followers of Christ. “And YOU, TOO, SERVE!” every Christian has his or her own service, appointed to them by the Lord. If we seek His will and genuinely desire to do it – not to become lifted up or famous – then He can use us for the benefit of His Church.

Your church leaders do not heed corrective messages of God, sent through today’s prophets. They reject anything that does not coincide with the dogma they once accepted, or with their self-willed plans (those are the works of the flesh, void of the guidance of the Spirit). This is shown in the dream. Master sent them a message, but they rejected it! Jesus is Our Master. This is the scroll from Christ Himself, sent through a prophetic ministry. Your leaders found it unimportant and of no value.

That is why the woman (prophetic ministry) addressed you. She demanded that you read and do what the message says!!! Will you heed?

Malcolm’s Comment: About the name, Ephim. This is close to these variants with their meanings:

Ephraim = very faithful (Hebrew).
(Diminutive form of Ephraim = Eph).
Effie (feminine) = diminutive form of Euphemia = of good report.
Ethan (masculine) = firmness; strength (Hebrew).

Finally, Efim Gerasemovich Klubniken was the prophet whom God used to deliver the Armenian Pentecostal Christians before the Turkish massacres in 1914. (Related in MM’s booklet Why The Holy Spirit?)

So, the allusion to the prophet whom God importantly used almost 100 years ago contains a hint of something similar today.

Mila’s Comment: Now to the woman. I am sure that the image if the woman here symbolizes the prophetic ministry of Midnight Ministries, GB (MM). A prophet’s function is to bring corrective messages from God for the benefit of the Church. The books of MM contain such messages.

This literature is Spirit-inspired. It brings back to the Church Jesus’ true teaching, purified from the most serious errors and false teachings. This is why the Lord moved me to start translating the major publications of MM into Russian.

[Mila’s Russian and Ukrainian translations of MM publications are on the web at www.MidnightInAmerica.net .]

They open our eyes to what is wrong in the Church today (from God’s perspective, not human). Unfortunately, the great majority of church leaders, famed evangelists and preachers are not interested in what God says to them. They make their own plans…


Black Angels And Great Tribulation

Dream 3: Black angels are falling from the sky. The moment they hit the ground their wings fall off, and they become men and women. In the dream, I know that they have an ability to read my mind.

Three women came up to me. I asked them to take off their T-shirts. [They did.] Some of them had 4 breasts, some – 6. I asked them to show me their backs. They turned. I saw 3 pairs of symmetrical scars. I asked them: ‘Are you fallen angels?’ They answered, ‘yes’. I asked, ‘why did God deprive you?’ They answered, ‘Because we had disobeyed.’

Mila’s Comment: Two meanings of the dream:

1. These fallen angels symbolize demonic influences on people (both in churches and in the world) in the last days, when the Fallen Star (Satan) together with his ‘angels’ is thrown down to earth from heaven (Rev. 12:7-9).

The result of their influences is the spreading of evil in the world, which will become so great that even the love of many (for God) will grow cold (Mt. 24). Many will fall away and become traitors.

Number 4 signifies that these things will be happening all over the world, and number 6 points at the evil in man.

2. This analogy is to teach us a lesson as servants, students and children of God. If God has not spared angels, but threw them down from heaven for disobedience and will judge them (2 Pet. 2:4), then what awaits those of the Church who have despised the will of God?! When we break clear commands of God and reject His admonitions to correct our mistakes by getting rid of old misconceptions and false teachings, we too, show DISOBEDIENCE!

The dreams you have shared with us are very important. Many others could benefit from reading them.

We also hope that you yourself will heed the warning of the second dream and will not consider the true teaching of Christ unimportant. The translations of MM literature on our website can help you to understand many difficult issues.

They have helped us and many others in different parts of the world. You can also request any of these publications in a printed form. We will be glad to send them to you at the mailing address you will provide. We are not rich, but always glad to serve for the spreading of the Truth that gives freedom.

May the Lord bless you with His revelations and lead you on along the path of His Truth.

In Jesus’ love,

Mila Thompson


Dreams For The Midnight Hour

The following are a selection of dreams which God has given Malcolm (M) or Helena (H). They are only very few of the hundreds (perhaps a thousand +) which He has given to Midnight Ministries as part of His divine commendation of this ‘Elijah-like’ function.

For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends (2 Cor 10:18).

God’s priority of purpose hinges upon His truths and their restoration. It’s not about personalities. God has not given these dreams for Malcolm and Helena, but to confirm His truth with a manifold sign.

In today’s showdown on ‘Mt Carmel’, so that the restored truths of God in MM are verified, He will perform greater miracles than He has done for the ‘former’ prophets, apostles and evangelists. He will raise the dead, as we have prophesied. People long dead are shortly going to be brought back by God’s power, to witness for Jesus and confirm these things.[2]

These are the days of Elijah. Elijah restored the truth of God in the midst of widespread deception and self-willed rebellion (1 Ki 18:36-39). So ‘he’ will today.

Restoring pure truth for God’s people in this late hour is the main function of MM’s work. God verifies it with revelations and signs because people are asleep.

[MM’s Dream Diary is on the web at www.midnightministries.org.uk.]


Reinhard Bonnke Not Listening

13th August 2006. M. Reinhard Bonnke
I was walking side by side with Reinhard, trying to get him to listen to what I had to say, but I wasn’t succeeding. He was not paying attention.

Meaning: Side by side depicts the equality we have in God’s sight. Many people would think much more highly of Reinhard than of me, a ‘nobody’, because of the millions to whom Reinhard has preached. But God’s estimation is not to elevate him. He’s on our level, and I have input from God for him. But can I reach him? Will he listen? The dream shows the present situation. [I sent him some items of our literature, but he didn’t respond, just as the dream depicted.]


Human Effort Of Tele-Evangelism

15th December 2005. M. Tele-evangelism
In this dream, various tele-evangelists were engaged in their work of trying to reach out to others. They seemed as if they were ‘scraping the barrel’ – running out of ideas of what to do. All they could do was to rely upon personalities to try and get the attention of their audience.

As one example, they asked Floyd McClung to come on their show. We have a tape of his, entitled The Father Heart of God, which is a basic message explaining about God’s loving heart, as that of the most loving Father you could ever want to know. Perhaps that’s why he figured in the dream. They asked him to appear on their TV set, hoping that his message would attract viewers and improve their ratings. But I got the feeling that it was a human effort and the content of what was covered was shallow.


Other Ministries Reject MM

10th April 2003. H. Unhelpful contacts
I was having contact with a man who had a ministry. I was hoping he would show interest in MM literature, but he wasn’t at all helpful. I had contact with a secretary who was supposed to help us, but she didn’t get very far either.

Meaning: God is showing that the Church is not ready for what we have to offer. Most ministers are spiritually asleep! (But the raising of the dead will wake up the Church!)


Our Lacks

25th August 2002. H. Living on the corner with no house
This was a dream of a street of houses. We lived on the corner [prominent position in God's scheme of things] but we had no house. We only had a place to stay, but without a roof or any shelter. I bought a big TV set and took care of it.

Meaning: The TV symbolises publicity which is to come with the miracles. As a ministry we have debts, symbolised by the lack of shelter and only God to shelter and protect us from failure. He watches over us and performs miracles.

27th August 2002. H. 2 Dreams 1) There was a huge downpour over our house.
The water was leaking through the roof. The container which I was using to catch the water was totally inadequate.

Meaning: Our situation, which is currently incapable of handling the massive influx which will soon come once people are raised from the dead here, and publicity follows.
The water depicts the outpouring of His Spirit, of power, of truth and of all its concomitant repercussions.


TV Interview About Raising The Dead

2) I (Helena) was being interviewed by Richard Madeley. We were enjoying a lively discussion about the miracles of the dead being raised.

Meaning: He is a well-known TV presenter who interviews celebrities and comments on some current affairs. The dream is one of so many that we have received, showing that publicity will be God's main way of spreading the gospel in Britain from now on.


Church Needs Radical Restoration

18th Nov 2000. M. The Empty Shell of a Building
I was standing on a road, looking right into the empty shell of a building. It was tall (about 20 feet above ground) and went into the ground quite deep too (about ten feet below ground), but there was nothing in it. It was a mess, with old paint and paper peeling off the walls. It looked like a bombed out building in London during the Blitz. No one seemed to care about the state of this building. When I looked at it I thought “This has got such great potential. Why doesn’t someone do something?! It could have floors put in and made so much more productive and useful.”

Meaning: An allegory of the empty state of the Church. It has deep traditions and great potential, but it needs radical transformation. It needs the disciplined work of incorporating the missing aspects of the faith once delivered into its structure to make it what it should be. But who cares to do that? No one, it would seem!


Jesus and Smith Wigglesworth

28th April 1998. M. Dream of Jesus and Wigglesworth
This dream was very short. Smith Wigglesworth came to me and gave me a present. It was a bottle of olive oil for anointing. It was not a tiny one but quite large for a bottle of anointing oil. He told me to minister to him. I felt a bit out of place at first (Who am I to pray for him? It ought to be the other way around!), but I did as he said. I prayed for him and invoked God's love upon him. When I opened my eyes, I was standing before Jesus, not Smith Wigglesworth! Whatever we do to another person, we do to Jesus (Matt 25:40).


God Supports The Faithful

10th January 2007. M. We trust God to provide
A woman came to me in this dream, to ask me how we operated this ministry. It seemed that she was thinking of starting a ministry. (She was represented in the dream by a woman we know as a business acquaintance, but who is unconverted.) I replied to her that we trust God to provide. We operate by faith. “It’s explained in the booklet Lessons In Faith” I told her.

Meaning: The dream reveals a common problem in the mentality of a number of Christians who think that they can decide of themselves to do something like we are doing (without an organised church behind us). If God has called you to that – fine – He will make it possible. But don’t think you can decide to do such a thing. The decision is God’s, not yours. And if it’s your decision, you won’t succeed. If it’s God’s decision, and you implicitly obey Him, follow His lead and guidance, He will enable you.

Implicit in her question was the issue of “how can I get money to do this thing?” When Midnight Ministries began that was NEVER a question in my mind. That might surprise some people, but it’s true. I reacted to an inner ‘urge’, a prompt of the Spirit, a compulsion to rectify spiritual atrocities being committed blasphemously in the name of Jesus. I was furious at the idolatry, lies and deceit of men playing God in the church. And I rose up to counter the abuse, to try and put right the wrong, to proclaim the truth where deception was being promoted.

THAT was the thing that projected me into ministry – something driven by the Spirit – not a selfish whim or human desire. I would never have chosen ministry as a ‘vocation’. I was a builder, and content to stay a builder to the end. But God had another job for me to do, and I hope I have done it adequately.

My belief is that it’s generally wrong to seek ministry. Usually, what underlies that is a wrong motive – especially in black Africa, so we have seen – where men race off to do it because they expect elevation through it, a secure income, a convenient  lifestyle, or for similar reasons.

In the article series Get Ready!, which is a ‘cry’ to get ready for the Tribulation and the Kingdom of God which immediately follows, I wrote:

If you are looking for an easy ride, or for a place of physical comfort, you are looking in the wrong place (2 Tim 2:3). Your eyes need to be fixed on Him, not on the physical things of this world. When I say “fixed on Him”, I mean that He is more vital to you than physical comforts; that obedience to His command is more important to you than satisfying your physical wants. When you have that sort of commitment, you will have the faith to trust Him in your difficulties. But if your love for self is greater than your love for Him, then that faith you need will elude you (p 3).

In the dream, the woman’s concern was money. She didn’t have the faith to know that God would provide for HIS work – if she was doing His work. But if she had been converted, her focus would not have been on the physical, it would have been on the spiritual – doing God’s will, which is what Jesus’ driving motivation was – and all that she needed for that purpose would have been provided.

The pride in self-will and self-seeking keep the majority distant from God, so they lack faith, just as Jesus predicted long ago (Luke 18:8). (Get Ready, p 3.)

I once told a minister in Nigeria that it would have been better for him to give up being a church leader, closed the church, and got all those with high and mighty aspirations like him to go with him and farm the land. THAT would produce the humility to bring God into their situation. But telling him such a thing was like advising him to walk to Mars. There is only one way to become humble enough for God to use you, and for you to have the faith to trust in Him, and it isn’t a pleasant or easy course. Few there be that find it!


Truth Is Being Restored

A dream to Kassahun Ayele on 10th August 2004. [Kassahun is a prophet who lives in Ethiopia.]

All the families of MM were gathered together in a large auditorium [symbol of the vast scope of God's worldwide Work]. We were seated at a rectangular form.

In the centre there was a large golden box heated by flames of fire inside it. We were warming ourselves from the heat coming from the box. While we were watching and warming, Helena stood and said that we are warming ourselves before The Ark of God. Someone asked her, "Are you telling us that the iron box is The Ark of God?" Helena answered "Certainly!"

God is in our midst!

Malcolm B Heap, December 2007

Further Reading: The Ark Of The Covenant (£1.00).
Is Midnight Ministries Literature Inspired By God? (75p.)

Midnight In America
PO Box 8493, Warner Robins, GA 31095-8493, USA
www.
MidnightInAmerica.net
 

[1]   The true scenario, in which the Church must face the Great Tribulation, is portrayed in Understanding The Book of Revelation (£7.00).

[2]   Names of a number of those whom God will resurrect in our time are provided in WAKING The Dead! (£1.00).
 


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www.midnightministries.org.uk