Jacob Prasch
False ministers are known by the
evil fruits of their lives but sometimes they need exposing so that others
can see.
The apostle Paul gave essential
directives about handling false ministers or false believers, in order to
protect the Church. Here are some salient texts:
...savage wolves will come in
among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among your- selves men will rise
up, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves.
Therefore watch... (Acts 20:29-31).
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen,
masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself
masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his
servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what
their actions deserve (2 Cor 11:13-15, NIV).
Those
[elders] who sin are to be
rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning (1 Tim 5:20, NIV).
...evil men and impostors will
go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim 3:13, NIV).
For the time will come when men
will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their
itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and
turn aside to myths (2 Tim 4:2-4, NIV).
... Demas, because he loved this
world, has deserted me (2 Tim 4:10, NIV).
Alexander the metalworker did me
a great deal of harm... you too should be on your guard against him, because
he strongly opposed our message (2 Tim 4:14,15, NIV).
And so has Jacob Prasch. If Jacob Prasch had lived in the
time of Paul, Paul would have added him to his list of ones to avoid! False
ministers do a huge amount of harm in the Church, watering down truth, and
cleverly preaching smooth sounding messages, while they infect the Church
with subtle heresy and oppose those who urge for reform in line with pure
unadulterated truth.
I have mentioned Jacob Prasch on page 2. That particular
incident is described in our booklet Apostasy in God’s Church! but I
repeat it here:
A few years ago, God directed us to go to a seminar being
held relatively close to where we live. It was a series of meetings
being staged by one man, a biblical scholar and teacher in the Church.
I didn't know why God wanted
us to go. The Lord gave us relatively little information, other than
specifying that I should go, together with whoever wished to accompany
me. In the end, five of us went to these meetings, to listen to this
particular ‘elder’.
Not long after the first
meeting had begun, I was prompted very strongly by the Spirit to ask the
speaker a pivotal question. The question formed in my mind. I was given
the precise wording to pose.
The timing of this visit was
not far from Christmas, and the question related to this commonly
accepted festival in Christendom. I was to ask: “From a moral
perspective, should the Christian Church be observing this custom?”
[1]
Naturally, I had to wait
until there was an appropriate time in the schedule to ask this of the
speaker. The convener of the meetings promised, before he introduced the
speaker, that there would be occasion for discussion and questions. I
was encouraged by that promise. I waited for the opportunity.
The teacher was familiar
with the origins of Christmas, because he openly mentioned that it was
derived from the pagan Saturnalia, or Celebration of the Unconquered
Sun, which was a popular Roman festival before the Christian era. In
fact, hundreds of years earlier, it had been a popular celebration of
the winter solstice – the death and rebirth of the sun – in other
societies, particularly Egyptian and Babylonian. It formed part of the
Babylonian Mysteries.
He recognised that much
error had been conveyed to the Church via the Roman Catholic system. I
was impressed by this man's knowledge. He had a lot of historical
knowledge and understanding. I felt confident that ‘my’ question would
not pose much of a problem for him to answer. (Perhaps that is a
reflection of my natural hopefulness or naïveté.) It was not to be!
The first session ended and,
disappointingly, no questions were welcomed. I waited until the end of
the second session. Still, no questions were invited. Wondering whether
there would be an occasion for input from the audience, I casually asked
the speaker if he would open up the meeting to questions from the
‘floor’. He did not give me much confidence. His reply was simply, “If
there is time.” It seemed what he had to say was more important
than hearing what others wanted clarified! (Danger! Control!)
Fearing the worst, I
approached the convener of the meeting to enquire whether there would
indeed be a question time at the end of the meetings, as he anticipated.
He assured me he would do what he could to see that there was.
Finally, the moment arrived
and I posed my question, adding more to make its significance more
understandable. I pointed out that the Roman Catholic Church, labelled
the Great Prostitute and Mother of Prostitutes in Revelation chapters 17
and 18, the purveyor of Babylonian Mysteries to the contemporary Church,
has given us wrong customs and traditions that carry no biblical support
for their observance. We are told to come out of her ways in Revelation
18:4, to have nothing to do with her false traditions. God also told
Israel not to learn from the heathen and worship Him the way pagans
worship their gods (Deut 12:30,31; 18:9). In the light of this, I asked
whether the Christian Church should be keeping Christmas, from a
moral perspective.
The speaker's response was
perhaps predictable. He defended the Church's current position, by
quoting two ripe old ‘chestnuts’ – Romans 14:1-6 and Colossians 2:16,
the words of which were both used out of the context in which Paul wrote
them. By subtle implication, he was now accusing me of wrongly
judging others for what they observe. I was not condemning others
for keeping Christmas. I was merely asking a straightforward question
from a moral standpoint. I was offering him an opportunity to give the
Church some moral guidance on this issue. Instead, he evaded the
question, and quoted scriptures to cloud the issue and make him sound an
authority on the matter.
I was amazed at the alacrity
with which he dismissed my query. He obviously did not like it, and nor
did some others in the audience, who turned on me as some impostor for
daring to ask such a penetrating question.
I shall never forget the
glare of a little old lady near the front who reeled around indignantly,
and tried to cut me down with her vitriolic words... and the look of
incredulity on the face of a young man whose pathetic response was that
we are under grace... by which he presumably meant that he thinks God
allows us to do what we like and tolerate what everyone else believes or
does as if it doesn’t matter.
It was clear I had offended
several people by casting aspersions on cherished idols.
When I could no longer gain an audience, I sat down,
having to accept that no-one present really wanted to know the truth.
People generally defend accepted tradition – no matter how wrong it is –
against new truth when it is presented!
(I learned later that there
was some mute support. A woman in the row in front of us had commented
“That’s a good question.” It’s a pity she didn't want to see the issue
pursued further. The lack of opposition to the remonstrations of
self-righteous indignation stopped the advancement of truth in its
tracks.)
The speaker continued to
‘answer’ other questions people had, but his answers revealed a gross
hostility towards the Spirit-led branches of the Church. He then falsely
accused some other men of God of preaching heresy, while he continued to
pour out his own heresies on a largely unsuspecting flock! To cut a
longer story short, when I stood up to object to his demonic and
arrogant outburst, I was physically removed from the meeting by two
‘thugs’!
That night my wife was given
a vision. She was shown the faces of God's people, half in light but
half in darkness. They are only seeing half the truth. While they are in
such a state of deception, they will be confused by new concepts or
teaching, unable to move on in the Spirit.
The following night I was
given a dream in which God showed me unclean meats – those listed in
Leviticus 11. Rather like Peter was given the interpretation of a
similar vision in Acts 10, the Lord showed me that these false teachers
are despicable in His sight. Teachers are meant to feed the flock. If
they give them unclean meat to eat, what outcome can we expect, other
than see a Church malnourished, perverted and corrupted? The result is
half light, half darkness, a most unsatisfactory mixture.
I am reminded of God's words
to the prophet:
O My people, your guides
lead you astray; they turn you from the path. The Lord takes His place
in court; He rises to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgement
against the elders and leaders of His people: ‘It is you who have ruined
My vineyard….’
(Is 3:12-14).
For certain men whose
condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among
you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a
licence for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord
(Jude 4).
Grace is being perverted to provide an umbrella for moral depravity in
the Church.
That, friends, is the most
fundamental issue in the Church today. It is a moral issue of whether
you will obey God, or deny the Saviour who came to deliver us
from all immorality. He cannot redeem those who want their own way and
who insist in retaining perverted unbiblical traditions.
Beware false teachers and
their unclean ‘meat’! They will compromise the truth in order to gain a
following for themselves (Acts 20:27-30).
On 31st December 1994, a person
involved in our ministry here had this dream:
There was a surgery with
Benny Hinn, Jacob Prasch and some Elim ministers, all doctors at this
surgery. Malcolm and Helena turned up, and in turn, spoke to the
receptionist. Malcolm demanded to see Jacob Prasch. [Illustrates how
Malcolm has an uncompromising approach to evil and those who perpetrate
it in the Church.] After a large row with the receptionist, who was
antagonistic, Jacob Prasch eventually came out. He argued with Malcolm,
who was shouting at him, full of the Spirit and very zealous.
After a while Jacob decided
to leave the reception area and went back into his office. Then Helena
came forward and demanded to see Benny Hinn and the same situation
happened again and Benny left to return to his office.
Next E [who received this
dream] was sitting on a chair in what seemed to be a hallway of a huge
office building. He was on the phone to Benny Hinn, who was in an office
with Jacob Prasch, a couple of coloured ministers, and about six or
seven Elim ministers also. Benny Hinn was relating how he now
understands about all that we have been saying. But Jacob Prasch was in
the office acting like a demon- possessed madman. He was screaming,
swearing his face off, and pulling his hair out.
Benny then assured E that he
would “take care of” him and look after the situation. Suddenly a group
of about 20 press photographers and camera crew appeared from all angles
taking shots of E. Then he told Benny that a lot of press had come, and
joked about it with him. (E noticed that Benny was very down-to-earth,
friendly and supportive.)
This dream from God confirms that evil
spirits are behind the work of Jacob Prasch who vigorously opposes what God
is doing here.
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