COMBATING the Strongholds of Satan!
The validity of your life
is measured not by what you do outwardly (your ‘performance’), nor by what
you say (your ‘confession’), nor even by what is in your head (your
thinking), but by what is in your heart.
While what you do
outwardly is important, and what you say or think is equally vital,
all these are qualified and established by what is in your innermost being –
your heart. That is the seat of the spirit, and where the Spirit of God
either finds a home – or doesn’t.
False Christians
I remember a very good
sermon given at an Elim Bible week by Loren Cunningham, the director of the
international ministry called Mercy Ships. It’s funny how some
statements stick in your mind, for decades afterwards. What he said in that
message was one of those things.
It wasn’t a profound
suggestion. It wasn’t untrue. It wasn’t outrageous. It wasn’t a ‘new truth’.
It was rather plain and ordinary. But God’s truth is simple.
He just commented that
in the audience listening to him that day were some Christians who were
false. They were not truly converted.
Now, we all know that,
from Jesus’ parable of the sower. He said that the tares or weeds would be
present amongst the wheat up until the day when the harvest would finally be
brought in (Matt 13:30,38).
Loren wasn’t making a
big deal about it. He wasn’t trying to expose the charlatans. He was just
making the comment as an aside. It is one of those facts of life that we
have to live with, that the sons and daughters of the enemy are alongside
us.
They are there to test
you, to niggle you, to aggravate you, and to help you resist evil. If you
didn’t have evil to resist you would become weak, spiritually speaking. You
don’t build muscle by sitting on a sofa eating chocolates. You build it by
exerting a force against an obstacle, by exercising your will to
do what is right when wrong is in front of you. It involves
consistent effort.
Notice the words
underlined. That’s the key ingredient to developing as a Christian.
Some people want a
cushy, comfortable, easy ride into the Kingdom of God. There’s no such
route. The easy road leads to perdition.
Enter through the narrow
gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction,
and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life, and only a few find it (Matt 7:13,14, NIV).
Only a few choose what
is right!
True Christians
Overwhelmingly
outnumbered by those with wrong motives, true Christians have pure hearts –
right motives. They are poor in spirit. They don’t have a high opinion of
themselves. They are meek or teachable.
God can reach them and correct them. They want righteousness above
all else in life. They don’t want revenge, but to show love and mercy. They
are pure in heart (Matt 5:3-9).
But they are persecuted
for seeking what is right (Matt 5:10). Isn’t that ironic that for doing what
is right, the sons of God are victimised, abused, falsely accused and
vilified?
And among our chief
persecutors are false believers. Paul used this analogy:
...the son born in the
ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the
same now (Gal 4:29, NIV).
There are various
reasons for persecution. It’s not something anyone seeks, but it will come.
It’s inevitable to all who will live godly by the power of the Spirit. When
you pursue the righteousness of God as first priority, hostilities are sure
to come.
If they persecuted Me,
they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey
yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not
know the One who sent Me
(Jn
16:20,21, NIV).
False believers persecute the true. One cause of that unrest is due to true
believers confronting the strongholds
of Satan. Darkness does not want further light.
It can only tolerate so much.
We demolish arguments
and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God... (2
Cor 10:4, NIV).
And aren’t false
Christians pretentious? Don’t they think themselves important? They do not
like to be put down, and for that reason they vigorously resist correction.
They oppose pure truth. And they reject true prophets.
What follows is a
sequence of e-mail correspondence which I had with just such a person. He is
a missionary. You wouldn’t think from a cursory meeting that he could be
protecting the devil’s design, but when confronted with correction and
revelation from God about what is in his heart, the strongholds he holds
dear are exposed.
This is biblical, in
case you didn’t know:
Have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Eph 5:11,
NKJV).
The margin gives an
alternative word for expose. It is reprove. It is very
appropriate.
You expose
someone by reproving them.
If their heart is right
with God, they will accept the reproof. If it is not, they will reject you
and the truth you present to them. It’s a very simple test, but it works
every time.
I’m not suggesting that
you go out of your way to challenge everyone you meet. God can show you whom
to challenge, but there are times for such confrontations with the enemy.
Remember, the enemy is not merely human flesh and blood. The enemy is
spiritual, but housed in a body. When God calls upon you to expose him, do
it.
The Lord knows those who
are His... Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2
Tim 2:19, NKJV).
In a great house there
are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for
honour and some for dishonour (v 20).
The honourable vessels
“call upon the Lord out of a pure heart” (v 22), the dishonourable ones
don’t. They are hypocrites.
It is your duty, when there is a need to protect the Church (the people of
God – not organisations of men)
from wrong concepts and from false ministers, to oppose what is wrong and
expose it.
In humility, correcting
those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so
that they may know the truth (2 Tim 2:25, NKJV).
Those
[church leaders] who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the
rest [of the believers] also may fear (1 Tim
5:20, NKJV).
Reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself towards
godliness (1 Tim 4:7). For to this end we both labour and suffer reproach,
because we trust in the living God... (1 Tim 4:10, NKJV).
What follows will
illustrate the reproach which the righteous suffer for exposing reprobates.
But it is a necessary exercise in the pursuit of godliness.
God Sets Up The
Situation
I will call the correspondent ‘Alan’. Alan
wrote to me on 12th July 2005 with an update on a situation in Malawi which
had involved both him and me the previous year. I replied:
13th July 2005
Dear Alan,
You are right about Joe not repenting yet.
God has a timing for all things, and repentance can often take some
considerable time.
If I may, perhaps I can remind you of the
input God gave about this situation through dreams?
I have cut and pasted part of our dream
diary below. H = Helena's dream. M = mine.
In the dream of 14th Jan 2004, the person
coming towards us in the pick-up is you. It depicted your contact with us at
that time. Your pick-up represents your ministry. The piece of furniture
represents what you want to keep from your past teachings / doctrinal
perceptions that are dear to you.
The dream of 15th Jan 2004 conveys the
deception of Joe M and those who have sided with him in his deceit.
The dream of 30th January 2004 portrays the
punishment which God will eventually allow to be inflicted upon him by
demons. THAT is what will bring him to repentance. But first, God gives
time, so that all people involved can choose their route. Many are being
tested through this situation, not just Joe M. The church prog wants to
humanistically cover up and perpetuate a bad situation, and doesn't have the
proper spiritual discernment to know how to handle the matter; those
involved there are being judged, too. They should examine their motives,
particularly with regard to their church agenda which is intertwined with pride,
control, manipulation and other unsavoury aspects
of impure human behaviour. Very subtle deceptions are involved in church
operations, so it is unlikely they or you will see them for what they are.
However, I present this for examination,
though undoubtedly the majority will trash it as usual. So be it. Their
problem not mine.
God bless those who love His truth!
Malcolm
Church In Need Of Reform 13th January 2004. H. 2) We went to see an
old mansion which we inherited. The building was very old with lots of
rooms, run down and in need of a lot of renovation. I feared it would take a
lot of work to refurbish it to make it liveable and comfortable. I met some
women sleeping in their beds.
Meaning:
This represents the whole Church in a state of confusion and disrepair.
God's truth could bring order and unity, resulting in revival.
Malawi 14th Jan 2004. H. Dream of
Malawi situation.
Someone arrived in a pickup [a missionary we know of] delivering a piece of
furniture. There were two boys on the side, one of them needed some
attention.
Meaning:
God is watching over the difficulties in Malawi. The boy on the side is Joe
M. [See also The Price of Disobedience below.]
15th January 2004. H.
More on the Malawi situation. 1) I saw men with hoods over their heads,
unable to see.
Meaning:
This is to do with a minister in Africa
who has deceived and told lies in order to gain money for himself. He is
under condemnation. God is bringing him into judgement. Part of that
judgement is spiritual blindness so that Satan abuses him.
God Will Cut Wayward People Down 2) I saw a Man cutting down trees
[churches & ministers].
Meaning:
Trees dominate and prevent light getting through. Many churches and
ministers dominate and prevent Truth reaching the people. Truth brings
light. God will bring down the mighty to humble them. God resists those who
resist Him. This is further confirmation that God will punish the minister in Malawi who
has lived covetously.
Malicious Police Attack 16th January 2004. H.
Malcolm fell down as someone tripped him
up. His keys fell out and when we tried to find them they were gone.
Meaning:
God is preparing us
for the attack that will cause us to trip up and fall down. The car keys
symbolise our ability to move on. We will lose our freedom. The family and
the ministry will be attacked, but as we trust God in the outcome the enemy
will be defeated as revealed in other dreams.
MM’s Next Workplace 19th January 2004. H.
We moved into another
property. We had to make some changes and alterations. There were some
plants which were maturing and they needed to be protected.
Meaning:
The plants represent people, they need spiritual protection from the wicked
one.
People Resist Restoration 21st January 2004. H.
1) People resist healing of church
division. There were many people
on the road. They were dressed differently and travelling different
directions, ignoring each other and refusing to learn from one another.
Meaning:
God is not happy with the present situation. His people are divided and
don’t love the truth which would unite them. God wants His Church to be
united in Truth and Spirit and to become His Bride. Contrary to what people
often say, doctrine does not divide. True doctrine unites. It’s false
doctrine that divides. When people RESIST the truth, that divides!
Acceptance of truth restores.
A Woman Resists More Truth 2) I saw a woman’s
face and her eyesight being jarred. New Truth forces us to alter our
previous ideas and doctrines. This gives us better vision if we are willing
to change our ways. Growing in maturity requires changes. This woman was
later challenged but refused to respond. [Related in the article STOP
Confronting US!] It was given prior to what occurred. [Notice how most
of these dreams applied to Alan.]
Major International Outreach Ahead 20th January 2004. H. We found ourselves
among a big crowd of people from different nations and backgrounds. I was
looking after some seed trays.
Meaning:
Miracles and publicity will help us to reach out to other nations. The seed
trays depict helping new people to grow spiritually through teaching and
encouragement. This is mainly done through sowing truth via MM literature.
Missionary Given New Truth 22nd January 2004. H.
Man's eyes opened. I saw a face of an
older man, his eyes being opened and the obstruction on his face
disappearing.
Meaning:
We sent literature to a missionary in Africa
and shortly after this dream, his eyes were opened to the truth about the
Sabbath. Deception will be removed as soon as we make a decision to accept
the new truth and obey it. Obedience keeps us close to God through the Holy
Spirit helping us to put on the garments of righteousness. He saw the truth
but he didn’t want to live by it. [This was Alan.]
The Difficulties In This Work 23rd January 2004. H.
Difficulties in this Work. I was on my journey to
the supermarket (Sainsbury’s). I was taking the shopping trolley but had
great difficulty getting there because the roads were muddy [from heavenly
rain].
Meaning:
This shows our present situation where there are many obstacles and we are
not able to move forward much. The supermarket represents a situation where
people will be able to receive spiritual food – the literature to
spiritually feed people’s minds. We need support to get the job done. The time is very short.
Like A Lightning Bolt 25th January 2004. H.
Lightning bolt! 1) I saw a row of concrete boxes. A bolt of lightning hit one of the boxes. It looked like a
fireworks display.
Meaning:
This portrays the miraculous deliverance which will come to someone who is
in prison. It will coincide with his acceptance of God's ways. God is a
Master of Timing!
Difficult For Muslims 2) Visions of the face
of a Muslim from the Middle East. The demons were like bees and were
pressing upon him from every side but his eyes were beginning to see the
light.
Meaning:
It’s a struggle for Muslims to come out of false religion and receive the
truth which sets free. This dream depicts one Muslim person we know of.
Protesters 3) Protesters. There
were several people lying down in protest against something.
Meaning:
Many people are becoming dissatisfied with life, with politicians and with
wrong treatment by ‘authority’. Many are choosing to speak against the
trends in today’s society.
This was fulfilled
months later in the protests against the banning of fox hunting. It
represents the over-regulation of society. Why should Whitehall bureaucrats
decide how the country people should run things on their land?
The Next Phase
27th January 2004. H. Moving into a new property.
We moved into a new
property. [The new phase of 'our' work for God.] It was a long shed-like
house. [Allegoric of the work involving many publications stored and sent
out. The publications are presently stored in a long shed.]
We kept some plants
indoors, these needed to go outside by the path. [Plants represent different
people who will become visible to outsiders.] We needed curtains [for
privacy, because of the coming publicity]. The next stage of the work will
need some changes.
A lady and her husband
arrived [S & co]. They were glad to join us [God is showing their
willingness to sacrifice to do His work]. God will bring more people to help
us do the work. I needed to get ready to meet friends from our former
church.
Preparing To Reach Millions! 18th February 2004. H.
Getting ready to reach millions! I was busy tidying up
and putting everything into a pickup vehicle to go on a journey or our next
place of work which will be a new phase. The time is very short, there is a
great work to be done to reach millions with the gospel message! God has
shown that MM's work will reach millions through the coming publicity when
'we' raise people who have been dead for years!
The Price Of Disobedience 30th January 2004. H.
Judgement on Malawi minister. I saw a face with
African features. The mouth was emphasised and the lips were exaggerated. A
worm got into the lower lip and wormed its way through his lower face. It
caused disintegration of flesh with serious cancer-like damage to the area
about the mouth. [See also
Malawi,
earlier]
Meaning:
This is about a minister who, through corrupt behaviour and greed for money,
departed from God’s ways. God is dealing with this man to humble him and
bring him to repentance. He is under God's judgement now.
Perhaps the dream
portrays some sort of cancerous growth which he will develop on his face,
paralleling the evil way he has used his mouth to promote deceit. Lies grow
like cancer!
Malcolm
Comment:
God set up the ‘meeting’. It was a meeting
via correspondence. He caused Alan to write to me, and then had me respond
with input that presented a challenge to Alan. After he read the dreams, he
was convicted that he had done wrong in rejecting my input previously.
I had sent him Our Sabbath Rest, and
Sunday Versus Sabbath. He could not refute the truth therein. But he had
made excuses and did not obey God’s command. Instead he accepted a
substitute.
God Then Convicts Of Sin
Now God was challenging him
on his waywardness. Alan was convicted in his heart that he had been wrong and had sinned
by prejudging me. At first he ‘repented’. But, as you will see, the
‘repentance’ was for his own peace of mind. It was selfishly based and would
not survive. He wrote:
13th July 2005
Dear Malcolm
Thank you for your response to my e-mail of
yesterday... I did own a pick-up while I was in Malawi in January 2004 and
did use it occasionally for moving furniture and I usually had one or two
helpers, but I don't remember telling you all that [he didn’t tell me; God
revealed it to us], so perhaps some of us have been too quick to misjudge
you, for which I ask your forgiveness.
With all blessings to you and Helena, Alan
But God Aims At The Root
Of Evil
I replied:
14th July 2005
Dear Alan,
Of course you have my forgiveness. You
don't even have to ask.
I suppose your comment is an indication of
the rejection of 'my' words previously by all others involved. It's the
usual response. Prophets are not accepted, not invited, and not listened to.
It's funny how God works. He treads on toes
all over the place! to expose the unbelief, the pride and hardness of
heart. Good to hear from you.
M
He then responded:
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Dear Malcolm
Thank you for your e-mail and your kind
acceptance of my apology. I should also have said in my last e-mail that, of
course, I realize that Helena's dream about me delivering furniture in a
pick-up had a prophetic, not literal, meaning but as God uses 'natural
things' to illustrate spiritual truths (e.g. the Samaritan woman drawing
water to show her that Jesus is the Living Water in John 4), I was impressed
that He gave Helena a 'natural' illustration that was accurate in several
details!
...Thank you again for your input and
interest.
Alan
Comment:
I then probed further about what was at the root of his previous dismissal
of truth. Jesus reminds us all that if we accept those whom He sends, we
accept Him. If we reject them, we reject Him (Matt 10:40). And if we reject
a prophet, we reject the message the prophet brought FROM GOD and so we lose
the prophet’s reward (Matt 10:41), which is understanding the message.
Rejecting a true
prophet is akin to rejecting God.
It’s serious. It leads to deception, apostasy and falling away – losing the
Holy Spirit. That’s what followed!
If You Reject A True
Prophet
6th July 2005
Dear Alan,
Does that mean that you accept me as a
prophet?
Malcolm
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Dear Malcolm
In answer to your question, you will agree,
I know, that we are to "Test all things" and I try to do this whenever I
hear a 'prophetic word'.
My experiences in this area have not always
been positive and the Church that I attended on first arriving in South
Africa did little to increase my confidence that all such 'utterings' are
from God. This group practises Prophetic Prayer, Prophetic Worship,
Prophetic Singing, Prophetic Visions and it even has a Prophetic
School.
They say that the 'movement' has been
around for about five years and is an extension of, although different from,
the gift of prophecy in 1 Cor. 12.
It seems as if there are three types of
prayer – prayer in one's native language, praying in tongues, and prophetic
prayer.
In one meeting that I attended of about 40
people, exactly half the number present were told to 'prophesy' to the other
half – needless to say, I was one of the 'other half'! This alone seems
contrary to 1 Cor 14:29!
They also seemed to be fairly
inward-looking with a lot of individual prophecy to members with problems
and not much was said about missionary work or needs outside this particular
Church. On checking the Internet, I see that there is a fair amount of
information about this 'movement', so you may be familiar with it. I now
attend an AOG Church
(back to my 'born-again' roots!).
I wrote to a minister friend and received
this reply: “I can't claim to be an expert on the 'prophetic movement' but
the language makes me a bit nervous. 'Prophetic' I suppose emphasises the
spontaneous inspiration from God which is good as long as it does not
replace study of the Bible and preparation. There is also the danger of
pride (élitism) that comes with fads – 'the rest of the church has prayer
but we have prophetic prayer', etc! Calling everything 'prophetic' is not
particularly Biblical. It's not too harmful in itself, the main danger, as
you point out, is a lack of balance in being caught up in one concept (and
neglecting other things). Personal prophecies are a very secondary (and
inaccurate) method of guidance in the Bible and should not replace the Bible
and inner witness. It is more for confirmation. Ask them when they are going
to become apostolic!”
So, to respond to your question, I do
believe that you and Helena walk in the prophetic [he’s carefully dodging
the question] and that you have an important message for the Church today
[which he rejects!] I would have difficulty sometimes with personal
prophecy, especially if, as my friend says, I have no inner witness and it
refers to something that the Lord has not already laid on my heart.
I have no wish to 'rake up history' but you
will recall that I found some of what you said hard to accept as it relates
to certain people in ministry (such as Billy Graham) although this does not
reflect adversely on what I see in your published literature as a 'warning'
to the Church at the present time.
I trust that this clarifies my position!
With all blessings to you and Helena, Alan
18th July 2005
Dear Alan,
Like you, we have seen much that passes for
'prophetic' but which is frankly self-elevating and pathetic. It's not of
God.
I haven't come across the so-called
Prophetic School
that you mentioned. Do they also get involved in prophetic meals, prophetic
driving, and prophetic toothbrushing as well? Maybe they should have
prophetic joke telling. They might get more truth out of that!
It's good that your friend could see right
through them.
On a completely different subject, I heard
from a London
based church leader yesterday that he sent £10,000 to Joe M. These were his
exact words:
“Two years ago as I tried to assist an
African missionary to open a food resource centre in Malawi, I lost all of
my life’s savings which was just over 10,000 pounds.”
Today he said that the police are looking
for him. I guess he means in Malawi. I wonder who has filed a complaint
against him with the Malawian authorities? Anyway, God will sort Joe out in
time as He has shown in dreams.
On the matter of the prophetic and
prophets, etc., I'm sending you some e-mails after this one, which contain
some revelations given to various people whom I have never met, but to whom
God spoke in dreams about me and the work of MM. I'd like to ask you "What
do you make of them?"
Malcolm
[I sent him the leaflets, What God Said
About MM, Revelations From God About MM, Raised From The Dead At
Midnight
which explains about the three people whom David Isaac has raised from the
dead.]
Monday, July 18, 2005 10:13 pm
Dear Malcolm
Thank you for your e-mails and your amusing
observations about the 'Pathetic Movement', as another friend calls it!
I would like to come back to you at a later
time about your other e-mails as I am preparing to leave for the UK this
weekend. However, I am interested to know of any further information that
you may have, such as a contact or e-mail address, about the London-based
Church leader. I believe that I should share my [Malawi] experiences with
him and also let J and P know about him when I see them in the UK. Anything
further on this would be greatly appreciated, especially by his Oxxxxx
supporters!
With every blessing, Alan
19th July 2005
First things first.
M
19th July 2005
Dear Malcolm
Your e-mail came through with just the note
below [what is in my e-mail message above] I think the rest of it has gone
missing in cyber-space! I'm interested (particularly on behalf of J and P)
in the London-based Church leader's connections with [Malawi]. I leave for
the UK on Sunday.
Many thanks, Alan
July 19, 2005 2:39 pm
Dear Malcolm
Thank you for your last two mysterious
messages which I am at a loss to fully understand!
If you mean that I should read the four
other e-mails that you forwarded to me yesterday before you answer my
concerns about Joe M, I can report that I did so when you sent them to me
the first time in the early months of last year! [But he rejected what they
contained, and refused to acknowledge the prophet who had come to him with a
message from God for him!]
I included you in my 'circular' e-mail of
12th July 2005 because I wanted you to be aware that the '[Malawi] gang' had
again made approaches to Kim and I wished to inform you of Church and school
developments [in Malawi] in case you received a similar request for funds.
If you have now further information relevant to the situation, it seems
appropriate that you should share it with those who have been its 'victims'
in the past. However, I now live some 3500 kilometres from Malawi and I have
no intention of returning there to resolve, or confront anyone about, these
issues! In fact, without substantiating evidence from you, I will not
mention your comments about "a London based church leader" to J and P when I
see them next week!
Therefore, Malcolm, my wish to engage in
correspondence with you is limited to our mutual, although past, involvement
with [Malawi],
but please let me know if you would prefer not to be included in any further
reports that I may receive. In the meantime, if you are willing to back-up
your quoted statement of yesterday, I will decide whether or not to pass it
on...
Every blessing
May God bless you and Helena, Alan
Comment:
Notice how ‘shirty’ he gets when someone else tries to call the tune! He
wants to be pre-eminent, the top dog, and he resents my coming along and
pushing him into a corner.
Time To Expose & Reprove
19th July 2005
Dear Alan,
If you don't understand what I mean by
"first things first", it is this. Spiritual things take precedence over
physical. And to be more specific:
I asked you if you believed I am a prophet.
You have not committed yourself to a full 'yes' in reply. You only perceive
that Helena and I "walk in the prophetic", so I take that to mean that you
don't accept me as a prophet of God, merely one who receives from God from
time to time like anyone else can do who is part of the Body of Christ.
But I asked you if you accept me like you
accept that John the Baptist was a prophet, or Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea,
Jeremiah, etc.. I wonder whether you do. I'm not concerned for my own sake.
It doesn't make a hill of beans of difference to me one way or the other, in
personal terms. But it does matter to your spiritual comprehension. Because
if you don't accept the prophet, you won't comprehend his message, as Jesus
said (Matt 10:39-41, etc.).
Do you think God is going to get 'any old
fool' to raise the dead who have been under the ground for years – some of
them for 20 years?! Or will He have an earth-shaking divine purpose and
commission attached to such occurrences?
Every true prophet comes with his divinely
given signs to authenticate him. This is mine – the raising of the dead:
-
Marc McKenzie, a little boy
who died in the early 1980's from cystic fibrosis, son of Ron and Hilary
McKenzie of Harrow, Middx.
-
Barbara Jackson, a spinster
aged 85 when she died in 1999 in Dinton, Aylesbury, buried in Dinton
Churchyard.
-
Mrs Stella Smith, an Irish
lady, who died a few years ago near Marlow, Bucks.
-
My father, Ronald Byrom Heap,
who died on my 40th birthday, 2nd December 1989.
-
Helena's
father, who died in Poland in the mid 1970's.
-
And there are others, but God
has not told us their names.
These people will be coming back from
the dead to witness to Jesus, and to tell the Church to 'get sorted',
because so much of the Body of Christ just doesn't want to accept fulness of
truth, nor the purity of the Word of God. They would rather give their
loyalties to some church than properly to Jesus in the way He wants. They
commit idolatry by worshipping men and tolerating a false system that was
passed on to them from the Mother of Harlots who is condemned in Revelation
17 and 18. God wants purity of truth restored to His Church, and He promised
that He would send Elijah the prophet at the time of the end to restore all
things.
My reason for sending you those four
missives is because you didn't properly respond earlier.
Perhaps you think I'm a false prophet,
because of my view about Billy Graham not being a man of God. Well, Jesus
said that we would know them by their fruits. He was talking about spiritual
fruits, not physical ones. Billy Graham got a lot of limelight. He was a
good speaker, a good public performer. But so have been a host of
unconverted entertainers. Did he do what he did because Jesus called him?
Yes. Did he feel a compulsion to honour the name of Christ? Yes. Did he
effectively preach Christ to millions? Yes. I was in one of his crusades in
the 60's.
But what developed from his evangelistic
efforts? Were there many people filled with the Spirit? No. What level of
conversion did many accept? Minimal? Where did most people brought to Christ
in his crusades end up? In truly Spirit-filled churches, or in ones that
were only half alive, if that? Was there a great attrition rate? Yes. Were
people healed at his evangelistic meetings? No.
Did he then move on in the Spirit when
the healing evangelists hit town? No. Did he accept healing as a part of the
Atonement? No.
Ray McCauley preached a sermon at one of
the Faith Camps (Colin Urquhart's) in the early 90's, where he made the apt
analogy about one who backslides. He put it like this. Jesus is constantly
moving forwards. But people don't keep up with Him. Many become content with
what they've got and don't want any more. They stop moving forward. They
stand still, where they are, to try and simply retain what they've already
got. While they stand still, complacent and content with their position
(which is not related to Jesus and where He is taking them into fulness of
truth), Jesus moves ahead. Thus, without actually seeming to move back, they
HAVE backslidden because the gap between them and Jesus has widened. He has
moved ahead and they simply refused to keep up with Him.
There are many who have backslidden like
that. In the process of time, even what they had previously, they lose. Bit
by bit, spiritual attrition sets in and understanding departs. The Spirit
leaves because their lives revolve around themselves, not Christ. They may
talk about Christ, they may believe He lives in them, but they are deluded
because their motivation is self, not God. They become blind, and like it
says of Sardis, they are dead.
That is why I said Billy Graham is no
longer a true Christian. He fell away. It may not look like he fell away,
because he established a huge institution called the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association or something like that. But it is an edifice to
glorify him, and in turn, anyone else who comes along after him in his name.
He has unwittingly usurped the name of Jesus! The devil led him ever so
gradually in that demise, and it all began when he didn't have the humility
to accept the further truth that someone else brought him. In his case, it
was probably the truth about healing as part of the Atonement.
One day in the nineties, I was writing
to Derek Prince Ministries about their failure to do something. As I wrote,
Jesus spoke to me through a word of knowledge. He said, "I am not found in
the institutions of men." Helena and I were given a number of dreams about
Derek Prince and his ministry. They were not flattering. They centred on the
fact that the institution of DPM that is established, glorifies him more
than it glorifies Jesus. And so it is often the case with many large
churches, church corporations, and ministry organisations that grow large.
They have left their first love and got sidetracked to the point where they
can receive very little more. They are not moving ahead spiritually. Many of
them are only moving ahead physically, projected by the inertia of the
'machine' that runs on money and fame.
Paul wrote in 2 Cor 10:18 about the
necessity of having divine approval. That's why I sent you what I did in
those 4 e-mails, to demonstrate that this commendation is my divine seal of
approval. I have not personally met any of those mentioned who received
dreams about me or the work of Midnight Ministries. There's even one there
from Joe M's wife! She received a dream showing what God wants in Malawi,
but neither the Oxxxxx
Bible
Church nor any other evangelist or church worker in that area cares a hoot
about what God wants. They think they know what God wants, but they are
working with the impetus of the organisational machine that has got rolling
and is steaming ahead fuelled by money and human inertia. But where's the
divine seal of approval? Where's the commendation given to third parties?
Most of the 'confirmation' for this sort of church activity and outreach is
subjective and open to debate, because the agenda is based largely on human
reasoning and assumed objectives. But God has not set the objectives. Men
have.
They will find out that they were doing
what they wanted, more than what God wanted.
When it comes to church outreach, most
churches don't seek input from prophets, because they don't recognise the
prophets. They have their own 'prophets'; people who are not really
prophets, but who have from time to time received bits of revelation from
God.
And if they did ask true prophets for
input, in most cases they would reject it, because it wouldn't fit their
preconceived notions or plans.
Anyway, I hope you haven't gone to sleep
by now. All I am trying to find out is whether you are willing to accept
God's agenda for His Church, and the restoration of the purity of His truth,
or whether you want to do 'a Billy Graham'?
God bless. Malcolm
His Pride Is Pricked
Into Retaliation
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 9:30 pm
Dear Malcolm
Thank you for your e-mail and for taking
the time to write in such detail. I appreciate your efforts on my behalf.
Perhaps I am missing something, but I
have carefully re-read your 'Raised from the Dead' e-mails and I can
see no mention of the following which you claim to be the "divinely given
signs which authenticate" your calling to be a Prophet:
-
Marc McKenzie, a little boy
who died in the early 1980's from cystic fibrosis, son of Ron and Hilary
McKenzie of Harrow, Middx.
-
Barbara Jackson, a spinster
aged 85 when she died in 1999 in Dinton, Aylesbury, buried in Dinton
Churchyard.
-
Mrs Stella Smith, an Irish
lady, who died a few years ago near Marlow, Bucks.
-
My father, Ronald Byrom Heap,
who died on my 40th birthday, 2nd December 1989.
-
Helena's
father, who died in Poland in the mid 1970's.
Could you please let me know the dates
and circumstances in which you raised these five people from the dead and
whether they are all still alive today. [He’s just trying to find fault,
because he doesn’t believe they will come back from the dead. He
rejects me; rejects the prophecies of raising the dead; and rejects God’s
word through me.] I will then be able to answer your question about whether
I believe you to be a Prophet like John the Baptist, etc. from a position of
informed knowledge.
I assume that your earlier reference to
Joe M and "a London based church leader" was no more than an attempt to keep
our correspondence going!
With all blessings, [hypocritical words] Alan
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:00 pm
Dear Alan,
You are an old sinic, oops cynic, aren't
you? Can't you read? Or don't you want to understand?
I didn't say they HAD been raised from
the dead. I said THEY WILL BE! I wrote:
"These people will be coming back from
the dead..." And when it happens, then you can believe my signature which is
in Ezekiel 33:33.
You
could have understood
the inference of what was in Raised From The Dead At
Midnight
if you had wanted to.
You could have read what David Isaac said was the reason for his being able
to tap the power of God to this level, if you had wanted to. And you could
believe what God said to all the other witnesses about MM and this work of
God, but you'd rather not, because of the implications for all who don't
subscribe to 'our' message.
Well, that's just
rebellion. It may be smothered with smarmy dressings of nicety and
hypocritical 'apologies', but it doesn't change the state of your heart,
which is what I wanted you to know.
You admitted that you
(and doubtless several others) might have misjudged me. It's a pity we can't
walk in harmony, but where there is resistance to the Last Move of the
Spirit, I can do nothing more to help you.
No, what I said was not
an attempt to keep our correspondence going. God
timed that information coming in, to coincide with your latest
communication, which I appreciate. I still would like to know what goes on
in [Malawi],
if you can cc me in... if I haven't caused you too much offence by this
straight talk. The man is Xxxxxx Xxxxx, the co-leader of the [name of
church]... That's basically all he mentioned about the incident. He didn't
say how he lost the money other than he was swindled by Joe M. I have told
you all he passed on to me about the incident.
God bless.
Malcolm
Out Comes The Arrogance
Arrogant people won’t receive input
which humbles them. So his response was predictably sour:
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Dear Malcolm
Many thanks for your e-mail which I am
sorry to say has done little to reassure me!
Firstly, may I point out that your
'long' e-mail includes the following statement: "Every true prophet comes
with his divinely given signs to authenticate him. This is mine – the
raising of the dead". The word 'comes' and the word 'is' are in the present
tense, indicating that your 'divinely given signs' are in operation at the
time of writing. If they are a future event, 'comes' should be replaced with
'will come' and 'is' with 'will be'! [No, writers have licence to alter the
tense for effect, and anyway, Paul wrote that God calls those things that be
not as though they were. See Rom 4:17.]
Similarly, your statement that "These
people will be coming back from the dead" comes after "And there are others,
but God has not told us their names" which means that the first sentence
qualifies the one immediately preceding it, not the list of five names!
[Poor, deluded soul! As if arguing about semantics would thwart a move of
God!]
I trust you will see therefore that
rather than being 'cynical' or having difficulty reading, I am applying to
your missives my old Oxford
Grammar
School lessons in English!
Malcolm, would you ask a man to build
you a house if he told you that he will obtain the necessary skills at a
future unknown date? [God does that when he raises up prophets and other
workers in His vineyard. He takes ‘babes’ and makes them wise. He gives
them skills and the ability to do the job.]
Or would you entrust your financial Tax
affairs to a person who informed you that one unspecified day, he will have
his Accountancy qualifications? I don't think so, and yet this is what you
are asking me (and presumably others) to do! Most of the prophets who we
read about in the New and Old Testaments had their ministries authenticated
by 'signs and wonders' BEFORE they 'went public' [no they didn’t] – they
didn't say, 'Believe what I am prophesying now, and many years later, you
will see me perform a miracle'! [The miracles are HERE ALREADY, but he
chooses not to perceive! He dismisses them. What about the thousands of
dreams from God to us? Those are all signs and wonders, too.]
I was recently asked to edit a friend's
thesis for his Master's Degree in Theology and one of his tutor's criticisms
was the use of what he called 'unsupported statements given as facts'. I
have no particular 'axe to grind' regarding Billy Graham [oh yes, he does]
or Derek Prince but I am unhappy with 'sweeping generalizations' such as
"Where did most people brought to Christ in his crusades end up? In truly
Spirit-filled churches, or in ones that were only half alive, if that?" or
"The institution of DPM that is established, glorifies him more than it
glorifies Jesus".
There has undoubtedly been considerable
analysis of Billy Graham's ministry over the years (probably not so much
about Derek Prince) so are you basing these comments on your reading of such
material and on investigations that you have personally conducted? In which
case, to satisfy a 'tutor', you would need to quote 'chapter and verse'!
By the end of the decade in which you
and I were born, both of these ministries were well on their way to being
established and I would be very reluctant to comment on the results of their
preaching at a time when I was still running around in short trousers!
Incidentally, didn't you tell me once that you do not have the gift of
'speaking in tongues', so why the comment about Billy Graham: "Did he then
move on in the Spirit when the healing evangelists hit town?". Jesus
promised both 'signs' (Mark 16:17,18)! [I explained in Holy Fire!
that God has not given me the gift of tongues. I was given greater gifts,
including inspired writing, to restore truth to the Church.]
A comment about 'Raising the Dead' in
Africa. I know that you have not
been here [an assertion of his perceived superiority and experience] and I
did read David Isaac's report, and one of the blessings about working in
African countries is the ease generally with which people respond to the
preaching of the Gospel and accepting the miraculous. [Oh yes? Not when you
present the truth which we are bringing, chum!] This is often because they
have seen the devil's healing power through their 'witch-doctors' (now more
commonly called 'African doctors') and thus when they hear of the Great
Physician, they have no difficulty 'transferring' to Him their new
understanding of spiritual matters. [No, that’s rubbish. It’s because of
humility that they have faith, or because of need or desperation that God
shows mercy.] It is for this reason that a Worship Service is almost always
followed by prayer for the sick with positive results. [But these people
were not raised up in such a meeting. They were due to the prayers of one
man – see James
5:17] I have not
personally witnessed a 'raising from the dead' but I know of several
Africans and a few missionaries who have. Let's thank God that he still
continues to work with those who 'simply believe'! [But he doesn’t, nor will
he.]
In conclusion, I would like to think
that you are a prophet of God [that’s an arrogant lie], rather than "merely
one who receives from God from time to time like anyone else can do who is
part of the Body of Christ" (although many of us consider that alone to be a
great honour!) but you have not yet supplied sufficient evidence to convince
me that your gift is different from that described by Paul in 1 Corinthians
12 and 14. [The evidence is staring him in the face, but he’s too proud to
accept it.] Until such proof is forthcoming, I will continue to listen to
what you say and write, and I will judge it, as we are told to do.
Thank you for the additional information
regarding [the London pastor] and if you are able to give me his e-mail
address, I would like to write to him.
With every blessing, Alan
God Then Gives A Dream
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Dear Alan,
I will begin my response to your
dismissiveness with the dream God gave me about you last night. He depicted
you in a slum area in an African country. You were in a small shanty, lying
there, doing nothing. There were others like you in their shacks, too. You
were shut in, surrounded by your four walls of flimsy whatever – perhaps it
was wood, but it was just bits and pieces of stuff, probably half rotten
wood.
Something to do with three was also
conveyed, but it was dropped in without specific association.
You couldn't get out. You couldn't do
anything about your situation or circumstances. But nor did you try to.
I trust you realise that what God is
saying is that you are shut in by your very limited preconceptions, and
are not willing to come out of the very inadequate spiritual situation which
you regard as 'home'. Because of that unwillingness, which is rooted in
pride and is coupled with spiritual rebellion, you can't get out now. That's
the reason you argue with me about semantics.
The figure three portrays the finality
of it all. But it's your choice, and I wouldn't be able to change your mind,
so that's where you will stay, in your spiritual squalor.
<< Firstly, may I point out that your
'long' e-mail includes the following statement: "Every true prophet comes
with his divinely given signs to authenticate him. This is mine – the
raising of the dead". >>
You are arguing like the close-minded
Pharisees argued with Jesus. He gave them plenty of signs, just as I have
given you already, but you choose to overlook those. I will give you one
more at the end of this missive – not that you will believe. Because they
overlooked what was already staring them in their faces about this Man of
God, Jesus gave them a sign that they would see and know when it would be
too late for them to change. That is what I have done with you, by giving
you a sign which will be fulfilled in due course in the next few months
probably, or next year, (the timing is not known to us, that is in God's
hands of course). When the Pharisees saw the sign Jesus gave them fulfilled
(Matt 12:39,40), they were condemned. Even the Roman sentry by the cross
believed, but those evil Pharisees didn't.
<< The word 'comes' and the word 'is'
are in the present tense, indicating that your 'divinely given signs' are in
operation at the time of writing. >>
And so they are, but you choose to
ignore the facts. David Isaac gave more glory to God than you are doing,
which is why God used him and not you. He wrote in those accounts about
raising the dead that it would not have been possible without the
Spirit-inspired MM literature. THAT'S WHY GOD RAISED THE DEAD THERE IN
NIGERIA THROUGH HIM – to validate Who inspired MM literature. But you missed
it, because your mind is closed to anything further from Him. You're staying
put spiritually like the old stodgy Pharisees.
When you ran into that child in your
vehicle and she was killed [a child ran out in front of his vehicle and was
killed], God spoke to me about that situation. I felt a very strong urge
inside of what God wanted you to do. You should have not departed from the
scene for fear of reprisals but should have prayed for her and God could
have raised her from the dead. The miracle would have been a huge witness to
the many Muslims. MANY could have come to Christ if you had not loved your
life more than hers.
<< I was recently asked to edit a
friend's thesis for his Master's Degree in Theology and one of his tutor's
criticisms was the use of what he called 'unsupported statements given as
facts'. I have no particular 'axe to grind' regarding Billy Graham >>
It certainly sounds like it.
<< I
am unhappy with 'sweeping generalizations' such as "Where did most
people brought to Christ in his crusades end up? In truly Spirit-filled
churches, or in ones that were only half alive, if that?" >>
Well then, you had better pick your bone
of contention with the Almighty over that one, because I was writing what He
put in my mind at that time. I have read NOTHING about Billy Graham by other
critics. I have only seen snippets of his ministry on video clips, and my
remarks were not based on what I humanly knew. At that point in my writing I
received a succession of words of knowledge about his ministry, which is
what I wrote to you. So, continue arguing, because you are not just arguing
with me. God is furious. Romans 1:18.
He commands us to trust in Him with ALL
our heart, and NOT to lean on our own understanding (Prov 3:5), but you are
not living those words.
"In all your ways acknowledge Him..."
One way we acknowledge Him is by acknowledging the prophets He uses (Matt
10:40,41).
<< In conclusion, I would like to think
that you are a prophet of God, >>
No you don't. Those are more empty
words.
Don't bother writing to me again. I'm
fed up wasting my time with people who don't have the humility nor the love
of the truth to accept what God is now doing. You will see the completion of
the signs in due course, but from which vantage point? That of a believer or
a rebel?
Goodbye. Malcolm
PS Here is what I promised you above:
From The Bible Speaks, Vol 4: Nos 93, 99, 100, 106, 111.
God Then Involves A 2nd
Witness
The Spirit moved me to send all this correspondence over the ocean to Steve and Mila. God then spoke to Mila
about it and stirred her up. She wrote:
21st July 2005
...it looks like I am going to write a
“second witness” letter to Alan. Yesterday, as I was reading your heated
exchange, something was bugging me, but I did not understand what exactly it
was. Anyway, last night I had a bunch of dreams (which will also find their
way to you), and one of them seems to be about him... It is very similar to
the dream you had about him recently.
This morning I began to pray for you,
and pretty soon found myself arguing with the faulty arguments Alan had
made. At first I thought to write this down and just send to you. But then a
thought came, “Why not write him a letter yourself? It will be a second
witness to him.”
Mila
Comment: I forewarned Alan:
22nd July 2005
Dear Alan,
A prophetess in America has received a
dream about you and for you. So that she can relay it directly to you, her
e-mail address is above in the cc box.
God bless.
Malcolm
Comment:
His arrogant
sarcasm only deepens:
22nd July 2005
Dear Malcolm
My first thought was,
'I hope she comes with
more credentials than you have' but perhaps I should wait to see what she
has to say, although I hope she will include a reference to what she thinks
are her qualifications to 'dream about' me!
It was not my intention
to write to you again and I was rather glad when you asked me not to!
However, like the devil's advocate, you seem to provoke a response from me
which I believe needs to be said.
Firstly, I cannot allow
to go unchallenged your remark that "raising the dead [in
Nigeria]
would not have been possible without the Spirit-inspired MM literature".
Irrespective of what David Isaac says or believes, people are not healed or
raised from the dead by a man reading anything, EVEN THE WORD OF GOD! [I
didn’t say that. He’s twisting what I said.] A miracle occurs when God
supernaturally intervenes in the affairs of men! Show me anywhere in the New
Testament where someone had to read something before they received from God!
[OK. Let’s start with Romans 10:17. I won’t waste my time refuting his
specious reasoning. He’s only trying to muddy the waters.] I know that you
are not widely-read in terms of other people's writings [how does he know?
he doesn’t know what I have read; the comment is a deliberate put-down], but
there are hundreds of Christian books on the market dealing with God's gift
of healing (and several about raising the dead), but I don't know of one
which claims that reading it will guarantee a miracle! [I do. It’s called
the Bible. It’s a pity he doesn’t believe it!] To say that you are able to
raise the dead because someone else did who read some of your literature is
totally unacceptable. [It might be unacceptable to him, but it’s what
happens on occasion.] If, living in South Africa, I were to write a
biography of Ray McCauley (to whom you referred), would I be entitled to
announce that I have had the same experiences with God that he has, simply
because I wrote about them! [Rubbish. That’s not what I am saying. He’s
deliberately twisting things.]
Secondly, a brief
reference to your mention of the poor young girl who ran in front of my car:
I admit that I do not have the faith to raise her or anyone else from the
dead, ANY MORE
THAN YOUR RECORD TO
DATE SHOWS THAT YOU HAVE! That level of faith and the working of miracles
are special supernatural gifts that God gives in particular circumstances (1
Cor. 12: 9,10 and 29, 30). [Yes, and Alan dismisses the truth that God has
given us that faith. If we didn’t have it, like he falsely claims, we would
not have prophesied of such occurrences for more than 12 years!]
Thirdly, and perhaps
most importantly in your case, is your failure to understand the African
'mindset'. [Oh yeah? Another arrogant put down. He thinks I’m ignorant about
that.] Again, I know that you are not widely-travelled [he knows nothing
about where I have been] but you need to listen to those who have spent more
time in Africa than a two-week 4 x 4 safari! [I do, and I have listened to
him. It’s a pity Alan won’t listen to us.] Africans are a nation of
'men-pleasers' especially in their interaction with white people [I agree],
and they are good at 'picking up' on the interests of those with whom they
converse and correspond. As most of your writings refer to dreams which you
and Helena have, it is inevitable that you will receive replies from
Africans along the same lines! This is their way of pleasing you, of showing
that they have read what you've written, of trying to copy what you are
doing! [No. It is a rare thing for us to get a letter from someone
fabricating ‘a dream’. When it comes, we can see through that. MANY people
in touch with us DO get dreams once they start to accept what we are
bringing them.] To attach the significance to these responses that you do is
unwarranted [I haven’t attached that significance to it – GOD
HAS, hence
His very witness in those dreams, which Alan REJECTS!], and not only would a
white person who lives here tell you that, but a black person would too,
when you have become his friend!
As you know, I agree
with you in respect of J and P's continued financial support of [Malawi] –
"The church prog that wants to humanistically cover up and perpetuate a bad
situation, and doesn't have the proper spiritual discernment to know how to
handle the matter... they should examine their motives, particularly with
regard to their church agenda which is intertwined with pride, control,
manipulation and other unsavoury aspects of impure human behaviour" – but
can you not see that you are doing the same [the shoe fits him better] thing
in your refusal to accept that the 'dream replies' from Africa (from people
who you admit that you have never met) are undoubtedly spurious! This can be
proved by the importance which you attribute to the 'dream' of Joe M's wife.
[Not so.] Let me tell you about my last visit to [Malawi] – I went with
several Malawian friends who spoke in Chichewa for some time to a group of
women, including Joe's wife, his mother, sister-in-law, his nephew's wife
and others who, I was aware, were looking at me in unbridled contempt! As we
left the village, the friends advised me to never again go to Sxxxxxx on my
own because these women "hated" me for preventing money coming to them
(note, 'to them') from charities which had been deceived by Joe during the
preceding years!
Do you really believe
that GOD would give a dream about you or your ministry to Joe's wife when
she was as much a participant in fraud as Joe and the others! [Yes. God
alone decides, not us. And He had good reasons for doing so. He was showing
them what would help them, if they listened. But they didn’t. They rejected
what God gave in the dream, just like Alan does.] Does God entrust spiritual
insight to those who are walking in the flesh and the desires of the flesh?
[No, she didn’t get spiritual insight from it. She rejected it, like Alan
did.] Does He not test our honesty, truthfulness and dealings with others
BEFORE giving us spiritual revelation? [Not always. Read about Balaam in
Numbers 23 and 24. He was a false prophet in rebellion against God’s will.]
"The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor.
2:14) but unfortunately you are so anxious to have verification of 'your
ministry' that you cling to any straw that happens to blow along! [Alan is
anxious to totally undermine our credibility. Why? Because he’s a son of the
devil.] Your articles, 'Revelations
from God about Midnight Ministries'
and 'What God said about Midnight
Ministries'
would be laughed to scorn by whites and blacks alike living in Africa,
because they are written almost entirely by Africans, whose motivation we
understand! [You won’t be laughing when more dead are raised. God will!]
You seem unable to
grasp that a prophet does not prove that he is one by saying that he will
perform a miracle (such as raising to life your list of five) at some time
in the future, but that when God calls, He also gives the anointing and
ability to fulfil the calling (Acts 1:8). As I've said before, your writings
tell me that you have been blessed with the occasional gift of prophecy as
described in the New Testament but that like many so-called 'prophetic
utterances', they are sometimes of the flesh. [Earlier, he insisted I gave
him chapter and verse, while he ignores chapter and verse for such a blatant
and false allegation. I haven’t uttered any ‘fleshly prophecy’.]
Now, I have to pack my
suitcase for
England!
God bless, Alan
Comment: Now Mila comes in with her input from God:
July 21, 2005 (USA times are behind
ours)
Dear Alan,
My name is Mila Thompson. My husband
Steve and I live in
Georgia,
USA and have a small family-based
ministry. Yesterday our friend Malcolm Heap was moved to forward to us your
latest email exchange. Having read your last letter, I was shown a flaw in
your argumentation and reasoning, as well as the root of your error. I also
received a dream about you last night. Today as I prayed, I was moved to
write to you. I believe it is for your benefit and ask you to hear me out
and pray about what I have to say.
In your letter of July 20, 2005 you
write: “Most of the prophets who we read about in the New and Old Testaments
had their ministries authenticated by 'signs and wonders' BEFORE
they 'went public' – they didn't say, 'Believe what I am prophesying
now, and many years later, you will see me perform a miracle'!”
This is a wrong statement. It completely
disagrees with the Word of God. What miracle did Jeremiah perform before he
‘went public’ to confirm that he was speaking for God? Or let us take
Isaiah, what miracles did he do to prove his commission? Please correct me
if I am wrong, but I cannot recall any miracles, performed by John the
Baptist either. Did he not just come out of the desert and begin to preach
repentance? What miracles did Ezekiel do? What do we know of any miracles
performed by the so-called ‘minor prophets’ to authenticate their
ministries?
With a few exceptions (Moses, Elijah and
Elisha), the Old Testament prophets did not perform miracles. It was NOT
their job! Their job was to speak for God, calling the unfaithful people of
Israel to repent and reform their ways. God did give each one of them a sign
of His commission, but most of those signs were either not known to the
‘general public’ (like in the case of miraculous births of Samuel, John the
Baptist and Jesus), or they were ignored by the rulers and authorities, as
well as the majority of the people (Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jesus).
No, people have never believed any
prophet of God because of signs and wonders! As a matter of fact, the
majority have always disbelieved despite the signs given to
them! Malcolm has already mentioned unbelief of the Pharisees and Jewish
authorities while Jesus was healing the sick, raising the dead, and
performing other miracles that had never been done before. If you consider
the obstinacy of mankind, having denied God for 2000 years after Jesus’
sacrificial death and resurrection, you will have to agree.
You write: “I would like to think that
you are a prophet of God… but you have not yet supplied sufficient evidence
to convince me that your gift is different from that described by Paul in 1
Corinthians 12 and 14. Until such proof is forthcoming, I will continue to
listen to what you say and write, and I will judge it, as we are told to
do.”
Those who believed John the Baptist’s
message did so without any signs. Do you know why? Because they were truly
seeking God! And God has promised in His Word: “The LORD searches every
heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek Him, He
will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”
Those who truly desired to know God and
His will listened to John’s preaching and discerned that he was saying the
truth. And the truth comes only from God! It is just the same today –
whoever sincerely seeks to know God’s truth and His will do not look at
names and reputation. They do not trust in humanly earned diplomas and
degrees, but listen to messengers of God and yes – prove all things through the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in humility and
prayer.
You seem to hold formal education in
very high esteem. You are obviously very proud of your Oxford schooling;
otherwise you wouldn’t have made such a big deal of it in your letter. May I
remind you that Jesus did not have any formal education? The only
schooling He had came from His complete surrender to and constant unity with
the Father in the Spirit (Jn 7:15-18). So, if you hope to impress the Lord
with your degrees and reputation, you are in for a big disappointment.
Forgive me for reminding you such
common-knowledge things, but “knowledge puffs up”. And pride blinds. Not
man, but God condemns pride and the proud. I believe I do not have to
give “your tutor” chapter and verse to prove this statement. The Pharisees
could not see the obvious, because their pride and selfish interests blinded
them. They had all the knowledge of the Scripture that the best formal
education could give, but the majority of them failed to believe.
So, my question is: what type of proof
do you require? Are you saying that you cannot discern the truth in MM
publications you have read? If you do, then why do you doubt that he speaks
for God? And if he does speak the truth for God, then he IS a prophet of
God, whether you like it or not.
Before I set up to write this letter I
asked the Lord for guidance again, and I requested a verse for you. Here is
what He showed me to give you in conclusion:
“Who is wise? He will realize these
things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are
right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”
I deliberately did not give you
references to chapters and verses in the Bible for my quotations.
Does it make them invalid in your
opinion?
May God bless you as you humbly seek
Him.
Sincerely, Mila Thompson
The Dream To The 2nd
Witness
22nd July 2005
Dear Alan,
In my previous email I did not include a
dream I had about you on the night of July 21, 2005. It follows.
Sincerely, Mila Thompson
Dream about Alan July 21, 2005
I joined a group of women and went to
visit one of them at her place. Her place seemed to be located in the attic
of a shabby wooden barrack. The entrance was a rather narrow hole cut in the
wall. I had a hard time getting inside. Once inside, I found myself in a
crowded room with no windows. The ceiling was so low that we could not stand
on our feet but had to crawl about.
The women were intellectuals. They
proceeded to have empty talks about nothing, showing off their erudition. I
wanted to talk about Jesus and His works today, but felt very ill at ease.
At some point of time I found an opportunity to introduce the topic. They
‘politely’ mocked me and actually shut me down. They were not interested in
the subject of God and His will for His servants.
Interpretation: This dream is about [Alan] whose e-mail
to Malcolm I read the day before. The women represent ministers and
ministries, which put a lot of trust in intellectual knowledge of Theology
(Alan is one of them). They go to seminaries and universities, study what
the generations of other people have written or understood in the living
Word of God, and are very proud of their achieved degrees and diplomas. They
do not realize a very simple truth that it takes the Spirit of God, as well
as our humble submission to learn His Truths. These are not found in any
formal educational institutions.
The ‘place in the attic’ shows their
proud attitude. They think high of themselves and their own kind. They seek
approval and praise of men. In their loftiness they do not see that there is
NO LIGHT in their life. (There were no windows in the room, all the light
was artificial). Their understanding is limited by their arrogance (the low
ceiling and little space). God showed in the dream that such people are not
interested in the input of others who receive from the Spirit of God. Unless
a person is one of their own kind they will mock their words. Their talks
were shown as shallow, empty and having NOTHING to do with God and His will
for this late hour.
Jesus said: “He who is not with Me is
against Me” (Mat 12:30).
Mila Thompson
Alan Still Asserts His
Superiority!
22nd July 2005
Dear Mila
Thank you for your e-mails but may I
start by correcting a misunderstanding. I did not suggest that all the
Biblical prophets performed miracles – I said 'signs and wonders' which was
intended to include the FULFILMENT OF THEIR PROPHECIES. [NO. He is trying to
wriggle out of his mistake here, and adds more error to his argument. MOST
PROPHETS DID NOT HAVE SIGNS AND
WONDERS TO JUSTIFY THEIR WORDS BEFORE THEY WENT PUBLIC.]
John the Baptist had his ministry
authenticated by Old Testament prophecy concerning him (Mark 1: 2,3);
Ezekiel was popular because many of his prophecies came to pass as he spoke
them (33:30) [that reference does not say what he claims], but the greatest
testimony to the accuracy of the Prophets' writings was that were divinely
(a 'sign and wonder') included in the Canon of Scripture and by which time
many of their prophecies had been fulfilled!
The problem that I have with people like
you and Malcolm [is his pride] is that you seem unable to accept that the
NEW TESTAMENT gives a very accurate description of the role of prophecy
under the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 12 and 14) but this doesn't appear to
be good enough for you! [That’s not the NT story on prophets.] Malcolm
refers to those with this gift as "merely one who receives from God from
time to time like anyone else can do who is part of the Body of Christ".
However, whether you like it or not, that is the way that God now speaks to
His people and, much no doubt to your consternation, we are told to "judge
it" (14:29)! [It’s not to our consternation. But that is NOT the only way
God speaks to His people, through the Spirit individually, otherwise Eph
4:11 would not include prophets in the list, nor would Agabus be mentioned
in Acts, nor would the two witnesses be found in Rev 11, nor would the blood
of the prophets be mentioned in Rev 16:6 and 18:24. His little essay on NT
prophecy is pathetic. We detail it more comprehensively in Prophets and
Prophesying.]
I believe that you have gone 'well over
the top' concerning my Oxford education – having lived in the USA, I know
that Americans go 'weak at the knees' at the mention of OXFORD which many
see as the height of secular anti-Christian learning! I did not attend the
University and I left school at sixteen with three GCE 'O' levels! My
'correction' of Malcolm's English came as a result of his following remarks
which perhaps he forgot to forward to you:
You are an old sinic, oops cynic, aren't
you? Can't you read? Or don't you want to understand?
I didn't say they HAD been raised from
the dead. I said THEY WILL BE! I wrote: "These people will be coming back
from the dead..." And when it happens, then you can believe my signature
which is in Ezekiel 33:33.
You
could have understood
the inference of what was in Raised From The Dead At
Midnight
if you had wanted to.
You could have read what David Isaac said was the reason for his being able
to tap the power of God to this level, if you had wanted to. And you could
believe what God said to all the other witnesses about MM and this work of
God, but you'd rather not, because of the implications for all who don't
subscribe to 'our' message. Well, that's just rebellion. It may be smothered
with smarmy dressings of nicety and hypocritical 'apologies', but it doesn't
change the state of your heart, which is what I wanted you to know.
I'm sure you will agree
that my response was fairly 'measured' and polite in comparison!
Incidentally, I don't have a 'tutor' – if you read my e-mail again, you will
see that I was referring to a friend's Theology degree.
In the light of the
above, you will appreciate that I do not consider that 'your dream about' me
yesterday is from God, particularly as I have not "achieved degrees and
diplomas"! It must be just the product of your over-active imagination!
[This is rebellion against God’s input! He is being judged. The dream
portrayed his arrogance and assertion that he is intellectually superior to
us.] This, of course, raises the question of why should I accept anything
that you or Malcolm say as being from God? [Go ahead and reject it.] The
only 'evidence' that Malcolm produces is that one day in the future, he will
raise five people from the dead, and you have not given any!
I wrote the following
to Malcolm today (the first sentence refers to you!). Thank you for your
concern and interest and I pray that God will lead you in the way that He
orders and ordains in His Word.
Alan
Comment:
He then includes what he wrote to me (Malcolm) on 22nd July 2005
(deleted for brevity):
“Dear Malcolm,
“My first thought was,
'I hope she comes with more credentials than you have'...” Etc.
Comment:
I added:
22nd July 2005
Thank you for calling me the devil's
advocate and for insulting Mila. I won't waste my time addressing the errors
in what you have written yet again. You're just a time waster. Yours is just
an attempt to find fault and rebel against truth. It is clear which side you
favour.
I leave you with Ezekiel 33:33.
Good bye. MBH
He Has To Have The Final
Say
23rd July 2005
Dear Mila
Thank you for your e-mail even though
your analysis of me is entirely misguided – in fact, you sound an exact copy
of Malcolm's ramblings! You both talk about humility and yet seem unable to
accept that it is you who may not always be hearing accurately from the
Lord! You both suffer from the delusion that anyone who 'rejects' your
dreams is also rejecting the Lord! As I said in my last e-mail, your dream
about me and its interpretation cannot have been from God because it
contains so many inaccuracies regarding my very ordinary school education
and, having lived among Oxford University students, my distrust of
intellectualism!
Malcolm and I began our correspondence
about eighteen months ago and, both then and now, it ceased soon afterwards
when he was unable to address the challenges that I presented to him.
[That’s not what happened. The truth is on page 15.] This was his rather sad
response of yesterday:
Thank you for calling me the devil's
advocate and for insulting Mila. I won't waste my time addressing the errors
in what you have written yet again. You're just a time waster. Yours is just
an attempt to find fault and rebel against truth. It is clear which side you
favour.
I leave you with Ezekiel 33:33. Good
bye.
I recently told Malcolm that I believe
that he and Helena walk in the prophetic and that they have an important
message for the Church today. [But he will not say what that message is,
because his comments are merely hypocritical window-dressing.]
I also said that I would have difficulty
sometimes with personal prophecy if I have no inner witness and it refers
to something that the Lord has not already laid on my heart. [So Alan has to
be the sole determinant or judge of what is appropriate. In other words,
‘the Big I’ refuses to be humbled and to step down off its pedestal.] I
mentioned that I see his published literature as a 'warning' to the Church
at the present time. [But he refuses to see it as a warning to himself about
HIS waywardness and rebellion!] This is within the remit of New Testament
prophecy as described by Paul in his Corinthian letters but it does not mean
that I accept you or Malcolm to be 'prophets' in the Old Testament sense.
I have given you one reason for this and
another is Hebrews 1:1,2: "God who at various times and in various ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days
spoken to us by His Son...". God's way of speaking to us now is by the Holy
Spirit residing within us and through "two or three prophets" during the
assembling together of His people (1 Cor. 14: 29). It is because you and
Malcolm flagrantly ignore these Scriptures [which is a blatant lie] that I
cannot accept your ministries as they apply to personal prophecy. Therefore,
like Malcolm, I must politely ask you not to correspond with me again until
you allow the Lord to open your eyes to the truth of His precious Word.
With best wishes, Alan
And with that, fortunately, Mr
Fault-Finder went away, having felt that he had won the ‘argument’. What he
doesn’t see is that the Holy Spirit has departed from him. Mr Self-Righteous
has lost what righteousness he had, and has become blind. He prefers his
self-will to God’s will for him.
Humility Is The
Beginning
No one can enter the kingdom of God in
such an arrogant state. Jesus declared:
I tell you the truth,
unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven (Matt 18:3, NIV).
The qualities that Jesus was alluding to
in that analogy include:
-
Humility – not thinking much
of oneself.
-
Meekness – being teachable.
The willingness to learn and be corrected.
-
Love and trust of parents –
our trust in God.
-
Obedience and submission.
-
Knowing one’s need of help.
In the case of a child it is the help of a parent. In the case of an adult,
it is the help of our heavenly Father. Self-reliance and arrogant
independence are the opposite.
You know, people will
‘accept’ Jesus, and become ‘Christians’ for selfish reasons. But unless they
change, that profession of faith is worthless. The change God requires is a
change of heart – an internal transformation of the spirit, from being self-willed to being pliable like a little child.
A person may appear
outwardly religious, but inwardly can be a hotbed of vileness to God. It’s
all a matter of the heart, of the spirit, which is why Jesus said you must
be born again (Jn 3:3) – renewed, regenerated, restored.
The sinful, self-willed
heart, which thinks so much of itself, and is stubbornly proud, independent
and resilient, must die. Your ego must go.
The way God worked with
Job is a paradigm. Job was clever, highly accomplished, diligent, and
devout. But his abilities and self-achievement lifted him up inside. He
couldn’t see what was wrong with himself. But after God had worked with him
through his trials, he was humbled and came to see himself as God did. He
felt ashamed (Job 42:5,6).
There is no short-cut to humbling. It can only come through difficulties
that God must allow, the severity of which is determined by the Omniscient
One.
Characteristics of False
Believers
However, false
Christians don’t change. Their spirit cannot be ‘conquered’ by God. They
refuse to alter course. To them, THEY are more important than God. Of
course, they wouldn’t say that, but the way they behave displays such an
arrogance and independence that they defy God. Lucifer was like that. He
thought so much of himself that he even deluded himself that he could depose
God!
Hypocrisy, control,
selfish motivation, deceit, seeking pre-eminence, pride, fear, intimidation,
manipulation, domination, hostility, immoral habits, tale-bearing
(gossiping), fault-finding (unjustified criticism), malice, unforgiveness,
stubbornness and self-will are among the characteristics of unconverted
people. There are others, of course, but they all stem from one root. They
revolve around the self taking precedence over God in your life.
Here is a list taken
from Testing The Spirits:
Evil
Fruits
Hatred,
lack of love: 1 Jn 4:20
Bitter
envy, selfish ambition: Jas 3:14
Selfishness: Jas 4:2, 2 Tim 3:2
Exploitation: Jas 5:4
Malice:
Eph 4:31
Ingratitude: 2 Tim 3:2
Slander,
abuse: 1 Pet 4:4, Jas 4:11; 5:6
Rage,
uncontrolled anger: Eph 4:31
Unforgiveness: Mrk 11:25, 2 Tim 3:3
Lying,
deceit, hypocrisy: 1 Pet 2:1
Unbelief, faithlessness: Heb 3:12
Sexual
immorality, perversion: Jude 7
Lust,
greed: 1 Pet 4:3, 2 Pet 2:3,14
Partiality, favouritism: Jas 2:1-4
Self-indulgence: Jas 5:5
Vain
conceit, pride: Phil 2:3
Haughtiness, arrogance: 2 Pet 2:10
Lack of
self-control: 2 Tim 3:3 1 Pet 4:4
Brutality, harshness: 2 Tim 3:3
Rivalry:
Phil 1:15
Double-mindedness: Jas 1:8
Blasphemy: 2 Pet 2:12
Lording
it over others, control: 1 Pet 5:3
"Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God" (3 Jn 11c).
|
In the case of Alan
illustrated above, he began to go wrong after he was presented with new
truth. He was a Sunday-keeping Christian, so I sent him two MM publications
that prove that Sunday is NOT a real substitute for keeping God’s biblical
Sabbath. Weekly Sunday observance is not sanctioned in Scripture.
I sent him: Our
Sabbath Rest and Sunday Versus Sabbath: The Final World Crisis.
He read them and could not refute what they contained. They are
irrefutable! He admitted what he read was truth.
The only way anyone can
deny the veracity of what they contain is to rebel against obeying the
truth. And that’s what he did.
Naturally, he didn’t see
it as rebellion. He justified himself. He made excuses that, because there
wasn’t a Sabbath-keeping church in his locality, he needed to fellowship
with others on Sunday.
By doing that, he was
saying that fellowship with Jesus was not good enough. He wanted to be with
other people, and they meant more to him than Jesus did.
The truth is that where
believers have no one to fellowship with on the Sabbath, Jesus can make up
for any lacks you may experience. Our fellowship is first with Him,
and then with one another (1 Jn 1:3-7). Our booklet Meetings With
Jesus explains this topic. To put people before Jesus – to consider
being with them more important than being with Jesus, or to rely upon them
more than on Him – is to commit idolatry.
Of course, if you told
him, Alan wouldn’t admit he was doing that. Doubtless he would deny he was.
But actions speak louder than words. What you do is a barometer of what is
in your innermost being – what motivates you. So...
Do you live for God, or
for yourself?
False believers live for
themselves, while they take God’s name on their lips.
To the wicked, God says:
‘What right have you to recite My laws or take My covenant on your lips? You
hate my instruction and cast My words behind you...’ (Ps 50:16,17, NIV.)
That is what all false
believers do in some way. They won’t submit to His will. When they refuse to
obey, and rebel against doing what God says, the Holy Spirit departs.
(Genuine deception or misunderstanding is a different matter which is
covered somewhat by God’s grace. That is explained in Understanding The
Mind of God: A Message To Worldwiders and Understanding The Mind of
God: A Message to Sabbatarians.)
Jesus warned:
I say to you, that to
everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he
has will be taken away from him (Luke 19:26, NKJV).
In other words, if you
don’t use what He has given you – His Holy Spirit – you will lose it.
We are witnesses to
these declarations, as well as the holy Spirit which God gives to those
yielding to Him (Acts 5:32, Concordant Literal NT).
Take heed what you hear
(Mark 4:24, NKJV).
Surely the arm of the
Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But your
iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face
from you (Is 59:1,2, NIV).
If you had responded to
My rebuke, I would have poured out My heart to you and made my thoughts
known to you. But since you rejected Me when I called... since you ignored
all My advice and would not accept My rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your
disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you... Then they will call to
Me but I will not answer; they will look for Me but will not find me (Prov
1:23, 24, 25, 26, 28, NIV).
Alan was quick to
criticise and pour scorn on us because we claimed to come in Jesus’ name. He
thought he was the one who came in His name. Had he had humility, he
would have been slow to speak and quick to hear. Like Mary, who pondered the
divine words that were strange to her (Luke 2:19), he would have considered
not condemned.
But these speak evil of
whatever they do not know
[understand spiritually]
(Jude 10, NKJV).
Evil motives always
produce such outbursts.
For from within, out of
men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and
folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’ (Mark 7:21,
22, NIV). [See also Romans 1:29-30.]
Combating Strongholds Of
Satan
MM’s booklet,
Apostasy In God’s Church! gives an overview of the mortal dangers that
face believers, both from without and from within what is commonly called
‘the Church’. There are false ministers and false teachings; heresies and
heretics. Deception is the poison of the Church, and deceivers are the ruin
of many. You need spiritual protection! You need to know how to test the
spirits, how to recognise deceivers, and how to guard yourself against
spurious teachings that can mislead.
These are the
strongholds of the enemy which he uses to try to subjugate God’s people and
bring them to spiritual ruin.
Jesus emphasised the
danger by reminding us of our need to pray regularly:
Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (Matt 6:13, NIV).
Watch out that no one
deceives you, for many will come in My name, claiming ‘I am the Christ’ and
will deceive many (Matt 24:4,5 NIV).
You are not deceived by
those who literally claim to be Christ, but MANY are deceived by men
who have come in His name, usurping His position, putting themselves in His
place as our Teacher, Lord and Mediator. Autocratic ministers and church
hierarchy pose the greatest danger to your spiritual
growth. (Explained in God’s Church,
Whose Authority?)
A stronghold is an area
in which the devil and demons can exert their grip over you. They achieve
this by appealing to your pride, or your desires or your fears. When you
give in to their prompts, they come on board and take a ‘ride’. They live
with you.
Christians can have
demons residing in them, as explained in Casting Out Demons. The way
to get rid of them, and let God’s light in, is by:
-
Humbling yourself
(Jas 4:6) – being willing to do whatever God says.
-
Renouncing whatever
you desire that is wrong and not part of God’s will (Jas 4:7).
-
Resisting the selfish wrong desires (Jas 4:7-8).
Demons incite and inflame your lusts and cravings.
For though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (2 Cor
10:3,4, NKJV).
Paul then explains how
you combat the power of the enemy. It is a spiritual and mental struggle:
...casting down
arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of
God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor
10:5, NKJV).
Demons argue against
doing God’s will. They will tempt you to do wrong, appealing to your pride
and cravings. Your duty is to resist. As you are willing to resist, God
gives you additional help so that you can – but only according to your
willingness. If you are not really willing to give up whatever it is that is
wrong but which you like, you can forget about combating that stronghold of
Satan. He’s got you!
The principle of
overcoming is simple, although the struggle is not easy. You crave God’s
love and help, and you set your will to NOT do what is wrong.
If it’s deceit and lying
– which is a big problem in Africa, although not exclusive to that continent
– you determine NOT to lie against your neighbour (Ex 20:16), even if
it hurts you to do so (Ps 15:2-4). You exert your will to DO what is right!
You reprogramme your mind to HATE the wrong and LOVE the right. By doing
it, you cement that principle in your character.
When tempted by
self-interest to lie, you don’t. You don’t try to win for yourself. You let
the other person ‘get the better of you’. Honesty can only be practised
where people really have God’s love in their hearts for others. So you let
God’s love come in. That occurs alongside your willingness to humble
yourself.
That’s why Paul talked
about pulling down the high things in you that exalt themselves... Getting
for the self, self-aggrandisement, seeking what you want at others’ expense
– all that is OUT! When you are prepared to pay that price of
self-sacrifice, of dying to oneself, God’s love for others comes in. And
that Spirit-imbued love overcomes all demonic power.
The principle is the
same with any weakness or sin that you need to overcome.
The newness of life that
Paul talked about in Romans 6:4, “that we should no longer be slaves of sin”
(6:6), becomes a reality as we surrender our wills to His. When you are
willing to be “united together in the likeness of His death” (6:5), you will
find yourself being “freed from sin” (6:7).
The strongholds which
demons held over you start to subside, because you are choosing what is
right instead of what is wrong. You are combating evil spirits through a
combination of your resolve and the power of God’s Spirit in you. As you
yearn in your heart for God’s ways, God enters with His love to release you
(Rom 5:5). Read Paul in Romans 5-8. He writes cogently about it there.
Malcolm B Heap, July
2005
|