CfaN Christ for all Nations

Reinhard’s Impartation Meetings

 
A man wrote to me recently from Kenya, telling of how God had healed him. He had been very seriously injured in a crash in 2005. The bus he was travelling in, overturned.

His spine had been broken, which left him severely disabled and in much pain.

He had recently received MM literature, which challenges readers to learn the way of trusting God and not relying upon men. He wrote:

“I recalled your book Faith – Raising Our Level Of Expectation. I have been in deep prayer, striving to apply all high faith in God to heal me...”

As he fervently sought God he was given a dream at night:

“Yes it came to me one night recently, just as a short dream, that a very soft spoken white man looked graciously at me and said, ‘Take any literature Heap sent and place it on the bed under your back and trust God to heal you.’

“I told my wife to bring me a book from the table. She brought them all. As I moved aside, she spread these MM publications plus Newsletter. I didn’t say anything but slept slowly [soundly] on them. This went on for three days. Praise the Lord... I AM TOTALLY HEALED!

“We are amazed and overjoyed in the family...

“I have many words to thank God who works in you... Send me the book Faith – Raising Our Level Of Expectation. The one I read went with the owner. Also through your kindness, please send me Our Sabbath Rest, Who Is The End Time Elijah?, Apostasy In God’s Church!... plus Newsletter which I have found to contain very important reports of your work...”   Richard O. O.

God’s Purpose

This wonderful miracle above is not an isolated occurrence. While God works in many different ways His wonders to perform, the common denominator is always to bring glory to HIS name. His name is holy.

There is a secondary purpose, as you can see in the incident above. It is to point to where His truth can be found, because it is His truth that sets people free (Jn 8:32) — not a man! God’s truth!

Unfortunately, a devastating transfer has been occurring for decades (and even longer!) where Jesus has been at work. Men who have gone in His name have ended up taking much of the glory in His name. It’s not right. God alone is to be praised. He will share His glory with no one (Is 42:8; 48:11). God is a ‘jealous’ God (Ex 20:3-5) – for good reason!

Where men get lifted up, He has to bring them down. That is a fact of life and a scriptural principle.

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low. The Lord alone shall be exalted... (Is 2:17, NKJV).

Also:

The idols He shall utterly abolish (Is 2:18).

Most won’t believe me when I assert that the big name evangelists have become idols, but they have. Billy Graham became an idol or icon for many a few decades ago. And now it’s the turn of people like Morris Cerullo, Benny Hinn and Reinhard Bonnke and others, who have reached the masses, to be lifted up.

They may not have intended it or wanted it, but it is an unfortunate result of their ministries which have elevated the man on stage like a celebrity.

Because God’s purpose is the OPPOSITE of elevating humans, He has to destroy such works before their innate inertia destroys the men God raised up to take His name to the nations. Unseen, such people have actually become a stumblingblock.

And one shall say, “Heap it up! Heap it up! [Pile up all the evidence, showing what is wrong and why it is wrong.] Prepare the way [as John the Baptist did, so must Elijah do], take the stumbling- block out of the way of My people” (Is 57:14).

For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Is 57:15).

You can see that in Richard O’s testimony above. He suffered for three years, and his whole family suffered while he was incapacitated through no fault of his own. There is a sign in the number three.

God also healed him – very deliberately, only after three days. Why three?

Three depicts finality. We are very close to the end of this Church Age. Jesus’ coming is only a few years away. There is not much time.

We are now in the time of ‘Elijah’, prophesied in Malachi 4:5-6. God is restoring long forgotten truths to His people. The Church can no longer afford to ignore them or prefer to hold onto deceptions. This is the Final Restoration. The two threes were just one sign.

God gives signs following His Word. His Truth is of paramount importance to Him and to true believers.

God has given many other miraculous signs and a host of revelations to accompany this ministry.

God’s Impartation

Another correspondent (I will call him ‘X’) wrote from Kenya about how they had received the Spirit’s impartation. I had written to encourage a lady whose daughter had been killed and dismembered horrifically when crushed by a lorry. Other tragedies had also personally befallen her family. I explained God’s love to her, and encouraged her.

I sent the letter to X and he translated it into her language. As they met for fellowship under a tree on the Sabbath (that is an immutable commandment of God to observe His Sabbath day and keep it holy – see Exodus 20:8-11 – and remember, the Word of God is inviolable), she was slain in the Spirit and received a vision. I have omitted the vision because it was God’s portrayal of things in her life. X wrote:

“First I read the letter in English, as I translated it bit by bit and gave her a copy of the translated letter. When we were in our Sabbath fellowship, God’s miraculous power fell on her.

“She fell down [under the power of the Spirit] under the tree where we sat. We thought maybe she was shocked, recalling the death of her beloved daughter and of the animals. But because we have faith in God, we prayed for her with my wife. By that time she was roaring, with her mouth full of sputum and foams. [These are some of the manifestations that sometimes accompany deliverance from demons.]

“Well, as we know that faith is the faculty of being absolutely sure that what you ask for, you will receive, we got an instant reply from God to our prayers. She was disturbed for 16 minutes, then she lifted up her head and sat on the ground shaking her head like a drunkard. I prayed for her, as I held her head, until she became ‘sober’...

“She told us of the vision she received...

“After that night, on the Sunday morning, I had a dream that I was resting on my bed and I saw a dove flying beside me. I stood, got hold of the dove, and held it to my chest... [dream truncated.]

“Well, back to the issue of R [the lady]. She was baptized on 9th March in the river... It was a wonderful scene... [After being baptized] she talked in tongues, and straight away we went to her home for more discussion and a Bible study. On that Sunday night, she was given another dream [depicting her] as a small baby, and being spoon-fed by someone she was not familiar with.

“Second, while she was sleeping, about 3 am that night [there’s that number 3 again], she heard a sound like that of a bomb which said that the next president of America might have a name that bears the number 666 which is found in Revelation 13...”

I have not explained that dream here. It will be covered in MM’s next Newsletter (No 44, May 2008).

The reason I have included these two examples here is to show that it is GOD who imparts, WITHOUT the need for man to be present.

Reinhard is inviting people to come to an “impartation breakfast” on March 29th (2008), where he will personally pray for and lay hands on people to receive the impartation of the Spirit.

Let me tell you, you don’t need to do that! You don’t need a man laying hands on you. You don’t need a man to pray for you. You need to submit to God, yield to Him, doing His will, to receive the impartation.

How To Retrogress

People frequently write to me from Africa, asking me to come to their country in person. I won’t do it. I refuse to go in person.

It’s not me they need. It’s God’s Spirit. And they don’t need me to come or pray for them, to be able to receive God’s Spirit. His Spirit is holy, and when you want the holiness of God, He gives you His Spirit. If you don’t want His holiness, you won’t get His Spirit. It’s as simple as that.

It doesn’t matter if you get all the ‘high-powered’ evangelists in the world to pray over you, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference! The Spirit is not given by the decree or will of man, but that of God.

It’s wrong of Reinhard to ask for money for impartation. Freely he received. Freely he should give. That is Jesus’ recommendation (Matt 10:8).

What message does it send to people when they see a picture of Reinhard, eyes closed, hands laid on the shoulders of a man wanting to receive from God, inviting you to attend his impartation meeting? Does it not send an unspoken message to your brain that you need Reinhard? That you may need him to pray over you, for you to receive from God?

Does it not elevate the man?

When traffic was brought to a standstill after an accident, in an African country where Reinhard was travelling, some local people recognised Reinhard and shouted with delight “Bonnke! Bonnke!” It gave him a platform to hold a ‘mini-crusade’ on the spot, and several penitent hearts gave themselves to Jesus on that occasion. As wonderful as the latter was, what preceded it was not wonderful. I don’t mean the road crash. I mean the adulation that Reinhard received, where people looked up to him, almost as a god.

Reinhard is a celebrity in many African countries. He is invited to meet with community chiefs and political leaders there. They hold banquets in his honour.

When Jesus walked this earth, although He was invited to eat with some rich and famous people, they didn’t hold banquets in His honour. Reinhard has gone one step ahead of Jesus. Or has he?

No, he has retrogressed, and doesn’t see it.

It’s the truth that sets people free, not a man.  So, to those who ask me to come and preach to them, or teach them, I explain that I am already coming through the literature I send. And it’s not me they need anyway, it’s Jesus, who anointed MM literature with His Spirit of revelation and teaching. As they accept the truth in those publications, they accept Jesus into their lives, and He sets them free.

That’s why Richard was healed by lying on top of MM literature. (Don’t think that the same thing will work for you; it won’t, unless God specifically says so. It’s not the physical act which brings healing, but your trust in God.) It was God’s sign. It was His way of pointing to the importance of what is in the literature. It contains His truths, and you can relying upon it to bring Jesus into your life, if you will accept all He says.

That’s the way to move forward – to look to Jesus, not to a man; to rely upon Jesus, not rely upon a man; and to put your trust in Jesus, not in a man.

The way to retrogress is by doing the converse – to look to a man, to rely upon the man, and put your trust in the man.

How God Imparts

In the New Testament there are a number of precedents, showing the various ways God imparts:

1. Sovereignly, without any involvement of man. God reaches down from heaven and instigates whatever it is He wants to do. We see this in the birth of Jesus, and of John the Baptist. They were filled with the Spirit from birth (Lk 1:15). Also, in how John’s father Zacharias was struck dumb (Lk 1:20) and later released (Lk 1:64).

2. In transfer by the laying on of hands (Matt 9:18; Mk 6:5; 16:18; Lk 4:40; 13:13; Acts 6:6; 8:17).

3. Using a physical symbolic reminder, such as anointing oil (Jas 5:16).

4. Through prayer. Both the above would be accompanied by prayer. But there are many times when prayer alone, without physical contact, achieves results (Acts 4:31; 9:40; 12:5-7).

5. During preaching (Acts 10:42-44; 11:15).

6. From a command (Luke 18:40-43; Acts 9:40).

7. By doing what God commands (Lk 17:14-19).

8. When Peter’s shadow passed over the sick persons, they were healed (Acts 5:15).

9. Via anointed aprons or handkerchiefs from Paul (Acts 19:12).

The last two methods were unique ways God chose to manifest His power at that time, to verify and validate the preachers and their message, which was receiving considerable opposition. God chooses to perform unique miraculous signs like those – as in Richard’s case above, in which he was told in a dream to lay on MM literature – to confirm the ministry of the one He is using, and the value of what is taught.

In all these instances, the foundation for the works of God to take place were the request of a contrite heart and obedient submission to God’s will.

It is significant that God varied His methods, for obvious reasons. People tend to look on the physical ritual and think that the performing of the ritual is the ‘magic formula’ for receiving from God, when it’s not. It’s what takes place in your heart that is far more vital.

People can receive the Holy Spirit without hands being laid on them. I first received that way. Likewise for healing, deliverance from demons, and any spiritual need, it is your heart’s response toward God that enables the Spirit to come in, and allows Him to act on your behalf.

For How Much Longer?

When a person becomes regarded as the indispensable mediator between you and God – without whom you cannot receive from Jesus – then Jesus has been dethroned from His position as the only Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5).

This is now the problem with Reinhard’s CfaN ministry. HE has become the lord, the mediator, and effectively also, the usurper. As I explained in the article Reinhard Bonnke And Antichrist, the unseen transition that has taken place has stolen away from God’s ideal, so that Reinhard now stands as an antichrist before the people. An antichrist is anyone who stands in place of Christ, not just one who opposes Him.

Oh, Jesus still heals people at CfaN’s meetings, delivers from some demons, and imparts the Holy Spirit to those who are hungry for Him, because these acts of God are acts of His grace. Wherever preachers preach, and people want to receive from God, He is there to honour His Word and fill the hungry (Lk 1:53).

It’s a bit like the supply and demand of the marketplace. Where people have needs and are looking to buy, and a seller is there to satisfy that demand, transactions take place.

Reinhard is offering what the people want, so he has a willing audience. They want to hear a man who sounds convincing, animated, exciting. A boring, lack lustre, dull delivery will go down on a massive audience like a lead balloon. But Reinhard is an energetic preacher, and therefore appeals to Africans. He has won their favour. He has perfected his preaching expertise over four decades.

Plus, he comes with experience of how God works. He knows that God heals, delivers from (some) demons, and pours out His Spirit with manifestations where faith is exercised. If you believe, you receive, and Reinhard knows that truism, so he ‘exploits’ it – which is very right and good. God wants to give, so Reinhard encourages faith in believers to receive, and the transfer can then occur. So, Reinhard is popular.

The fact that God graces Reinhard’s meetings with signs and wonders, healings, deliverances, etc., is not proof that God approves of the methodology. It is proof of God’s boundless love, nothing more.

The revelations God has given in dreams to MM about Reinhard’s ministry and outreach testify against him. When God speaks to a prophet, and that input is ignored or rejected, God then does things to effect change. Judgement falls. Doors begin to close. Problems and difficulties arise that get more serious as time goes on. God removes His blessing and begins to fight against the ones He formerly used (Is 63:10).

So, Reinhard’s meetings may be somewhat graced by God at present, but for how much longer? 

A Hidden Agenda?

Are not Reinhard’s ‘impartation’ meetings really a ruse to raise some funds for his outreach? Isn’t that what lies behind most of his activities outside of his ‘crusade’ meetings?

He’s too engrossed in his agenda. He does not need to reach the masses by human means in this age. God has a scheme that Reinhard and all the big time evangelists are unaware of. This prophet has told him, but no one listens!

Wouldn’t he be better to feed people with more of God’s truth from His Word, instead of the shallow, paltry helpings of trivia that he has recently written in his articles? They lack so much depth and truth. They are like the dream I was given of his new booklet, containing nothing of real depth or worth (see article Reinhard’s New Booklet).

It’s not enough to be clever with words, or to try to create interest by human appeal. That doesn’t feed people.

At the moment there is little he can impart to others, while he lacks so much further truth that God wants him to have.

Laodicean Blindness

When God sends a prophet to you with further truth, if you reject the prophet and what he brings, you have shut the door on Jesus and left Him outside where he stands and knocks. This is the prevalent weakness of the Church in this complacent, laid-back end time (Rev 3:20). Jesus is standing there right now waiting for the proper meek response.

Meekness is not weakness. It’s childlike desire to learn; willingness to receive further truth.

Most of the big name evangelists are terribly misguided. They have been led up the garden path by long-held church dogma, by false doctrines with faulty exegesis, and copying one another.

They have become elevated and celebrated, when it is Jesus who alone should receive that glory.

Many of them will not enter God’s kingdom. They have become too high and mighty.

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:2,3.).

You may have read that text many times before. Preachers will have preached it in their sermons countless times, yet failed to truly grasp how they were going against Jesus’ very words!

Notice the word I have underlined. When Jesus was emphatic, it was because the message He was trying to convey was lost on humanity. The disciples, who were with Him day after day for those three years, didn’t understand either. They were still fighting amongst themselves about who would be the greatest.

Those who are great in this life are not going to be great in the next. What is highly esteemed among men is NOT highly esteemed by God (Lk 16:15).

Too many of these ‘big names’ are happy with the acclaim they receive. They think it helps the cause of God’s kingdom. They think their being lifted up attracts many new folk into the fold. How blind they are!

God’s Work on earth today is not about numbers. It’s not about celebrities. It’s not about impressing others. It’s not about gloss and glamour and human attractions. It’s not about winning souls. It’s not about any of those human considerations.

It’s about unseen things. It’s about matters of the heart. It’s about what’s deep down inside you; what is your spiritual motivation?

Are you willing to choose the unpopular way; the way that brings hostility, opposition, persecution, and even death? Too many believers misinterpret Jesus’ words about bringing us life (Jn 10:10). Such people are too shallow and selfish to grasp them in anything other than a purely physical context.

The Laodicean blindness of our time reverses Jesus’ pivotal words, to say this:

...I have come to destroy the Law and the Prophets. Yes, I have come to remove the Law’s authority, not to fill it up to the full (reverse of Matt 5:17).

Notice what Jesus really emphasises – what is most important to Him:

For ASSUREDLY [that emphasis again!] I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matt 5:18).

Reinhard doesn’t preach this! He preaches that something was done away from the law – the Sabbath command. He claims, like all the other misguided big evangelists and theologians (many of them FALSE!) that you don’t need to keep the fourth commandment as it was given to Israel, that you can alter that one and do what is humanly convenient and expedient.

Those deceivers will be very small soon...

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (5:19).

That’s not your popular and accepted teaching today, but it is truth. It is inviolable, and it will judge you on the Last Day. What blindness there is now!

If you want real impartation from God, obey all His commandments; do all He says; listen to His voice and heed His every word. Then you will be rejected by most, regarded as the offscouring of the world (1 Cor 4:13), opposed, vilified, persecuted, and you will have acceptance and reward in heaven (Matt 5:1011).

That’s not your popular gospel, but it’s the full gospel  nonetheless, and Reinhard doesn’t preach it. He cannot impart fulness while he is not prepared to preach it!    

Malcolm B Heap, March 2008