Visit To A Charismatic Church
Shake off your dust; rise up...
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion (Is 52:2, NIV).
Accounts narrated by
Lyudmyla Thompson
These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning
of the Creation of God:
“I know your works, that you are neither
cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My
mouth. Because you say ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of
nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind
and naked – I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that
you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the
shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with
eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten.
Therefore be zealous and repent.
“Behold I stand at the door and knock. If
anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine
with him, and he with Me.” (Rev 3:14-20, NKJV.)
NKJV = The New King James Version of the Bible.
See that you do not
refuse him who speaks... (Heb 12:25.)
In 2005, God took Mila Thompson from the USA back to her homeland in
Ukraine. The trip was meant to be pure formality, to comply with
government naturalisation regulations. She has been married to Steve
Thompson in the USA for some years.
But God has an
ingenious way of using what appears an everyday circumstance and using
it for His greater purpose. He had other reasons for taking Mila back to
her country of birth.
One of these became
clear as events unfolded and God showed in dreams to Mila some of what
He was doing. Here are two of those dreams and what they mean:
Two Dreams of November 11, 2005
1)
A graduation party was being held. I was one of the graduates.
When I came to the party, there were many young women dressed in
gorgeous, very expensive gowns. They were each escorted by at least one
young man. Only I did not have an escort.
My clothing was also
rather modest, not like all the others. I didn’t even have shoes and was
wearing slippers. I didn’t know anyone at the party and did not feel
welcome or even noticed. The only company I had sitting at a table was a
young, but heavy man. I do not remember who he was and why he was
sitting at my table. He was not interested in me.
Then I felt like dancing
and asked this man to dance with me. Perhaps he didn’t want to be rude,
but he did not decline my invitation. As we got on the dance floor, they
started to play rock’n’roll. I took off my slippers and began to dance
with unexpected energy and skill. I danced so well and with such ease
that I myself was surprised. When the dance was over, my partner said or
did something expressing excitement or physical desire. I thought to
myself, “Hmm, so I can do it!’
2)
A House of God. I was trying to get into the attic of a house ( I
am not sure why, but it seems there had to be a room there I wanted to
get into). The small entrance leading there was on the outside of the
building. I had to climb an old wooden ladder, roughly knocked together.
As I climbed up, the last two wooden planks turned out to be rotten and
broke at a touch. I could not get to the attic.
When I got
down I noticed that the entire façade of the house looked half
demolished. There was a pharmacy inside the building, on the ground
floor to the right of the ladder. It had very large shop windows. I
looked closer and saw that the walls between those shop windows were
almost completely destroyed. As a matter of fact, I wondered how the
window frames still stood in place. However, the people inside did not
seem to care that their building was falling apart. They were busy with
their usual duties as if nothing was happening. The pharmacy was filled
with some kind of mist – fog or dust. There were some customers inside
too. They seemed to be just as oblivious to the danger as the store
associates.
I was
astonished by everybody’s blindness!
Meaning and Commentaries:
Through
these two dreams (and a third one given on November 26) God showed me a
complete picture of what would happen on November 27. That Sunday I went
to visit a couple of Charismatic churches to hand out copies of the
Russian translation of the book A Message To The Charismatic
Church.
Dream 1 pictured my encounter in the first of the two churches I visited on that
day – the group called “Logos”.
The part
of the dream that shows me being the only one rather modestly dressed
and without an escort at the party symbolizes that we do not belong to
or represent any church organization, have no human following or
leadership. We do have spiritual guidance, which comes as we stay tuned
to the Spirit, also from our friends – the Heap family, and through
their Spirit-inspired literature; and there are also other brothers and
sisters who choose to stay in touch with us. But there is no human being
who could be considered either our leader or follower.
The party
in the dream represents their Sunday worship meeting. I came without
invitation, nobody knew or expected me. I came as one of the family in
Christ comes to her / his own. So, I had the right to be there, but did
not receive a warm welcome.
I
introduced myself to an usher (because they had just started when I
came), and requested a couple of minutes at any time during the meeting
to say a few words to introduce myself and explain the purpose of my
visit. I was denied the opportunity, because, as I was told, they had ‘a
very busy schedule’. Also, I was warned not to try and distribute
anything without their pastor’s approval. The young man was polite, but
it was clear that had I dismissed the warning, they would have ‘ushered
me out’ of the meeting in a heartbeat.
Once again
I prayed for the Lord’s guidance and waited. A few times during the
‘praise and worship’ part I felt the presence of the Spirit. It
encouraged me. The Lord had worked it out that a guest pastor from
another region of Ukraine was present, and he was invited to preach that
day. He spoke on the Lord’s Harvest. It was a good sermon. In his
teaching, he even shared his past worries and doubts about being able to
endure if the time comes to suffer for Christ, and how the Lord
encouraged him by the word that all he needed to do was to say as He had
said: “Yet may Your will, not mine, be done”.
Later on,
the hosting pastor suggested that a collection be made in gratitude to
their guest for his teaching. As the donations were being collected, I
was moved to give the young boy who came up to me a copy of the
translation and ask him to give it to that pastor as my gift. It was
obvious that the boy was completely baffled and did not know what to do.
Instead, he gave the copy to his pastor’s wife, and she, in turn, called
for the usher, who brought the copy back to me. He said, “I told you not
to distribute anything without our pastor’s permission”. To this I
responded, “And I did not. This is my gift to your guest pastor. He is
not one of your congregation. Also, don’t you think he is spiritually
mature enough to discern what is good and what is bad?” The usher could
not say anything to counter it. However, I knew they would not do what I
had asked.
I made
another attempt to speak to the congregation when the pastor asked if
anybody would like to give a testimony about a miraculous healing. I
raised my hand and asked if I could testify about a miraculous
salvation, but was denied again. The pastor said it was outside the
‘topic’ and they did not have time for it. Instead, he began a ‘birthday
congratulations’ ritual for some of the members. It seemed of more
importance to him, than a testimony about a miracle of God!
I realized
I would not get a chance to introduce myself and the book there. So I
left the hall and positioned myself on the stairs leading down to the
exit. As the members were leaving the meeting they inevitably had to
pass by me. I simply asked them if they were interested to read a
prophetic message to the Charismatic Church, and many said they would.
That way I distributed about 18 copies before the pastor saw me.
He came to
me and I finally had a chance to introduce myself and explain what I was
giving out. He was polite outwardly. He took a copy, even though his
comment was wrong. He said ‘if it agrees with their teaching’, they
would contact me to request more copies or make them from the one he was
taking. To this I replied that, as he certainly knows, God uses His
prophets to correct what is wrong in the Church. So he should not be
expecting everything in the book to agree with what they teach,
otherwise it would not be a prophetic message. I made him promise that
he would read it attentively and pray over it. In his turn, he ‘asked’
me to stop distributing the copies until he had a chance to read it. I
had no choice.
I did not
leave the place, however. I was moved to wait and meet the guest pastor
in person. So I did. I thanked him for a good sermon and asked if he had
received my gift. He said, “I am afraid I have not…” At this the host
pastor felt very uncomfortable and made a weak attempt to draw the guest
away from me. When it did not work, because I obviously had aroused the
guest’s curiosity, the local pastor said, “We will be waiting for you
downstairs” and retreated quickly.
Then I
introduced myself using an MA card I had with me, explained what my gift
was, and why I had been moved by the Spirit to translate the book. I
told him that there was some information about MM and Malcolm in the
introduction From Translator. (I also gave him a copy of the
translation of Why Keep Christmas?) The man thanked me
very sincerely and meekly.
This guest
pastor is the one shown in my dream as the man who accepted my
invitation to a dance. The Lord may choose to use him to promote His
truths, contained in MM publications, and make them available to many
Christians in Ukraine.
Dream 2
predicted my encounter with the second Charismatic church “New Life” (my
brother belongs to it). [There was another dream given on November 26, a
day before the visit, which also forewarned me about a blow I would
experience there.]
The attic
I was trying to get to symbolizes my attempt to reach the leader of this
church, Igor Kosovan. False leaders believe (and try to persuade
believers) that they have the Spirit of God, and that they have power
over the congregation which is vested in them by God Himself. But
this is not a spiritual power; it is human domination and control, and
the spirit behind it is demonic. Prior to this encounter, I had been to
their meeting once, and did not feel the presence of the Spirit for a
moment throughout the entire meeting!
The entrance was small: this means the leader is not open and welcoming those who
are considered ‘outsiders’.
The two top planks were shown to be rotten and break the moment I touched them.
This symbolism pictured what actually happened – I was denied a chance
to talk to the man [explained in detail in my report below]. This is a
rotten practice, not of God. Top planks represent the top of
their hierarchy.
The pharmacy on the ground floor level (together with the employees and
customers) shows their organization as a business, established to make
money. The appointed helpers of the leader (employees) and the customers
(‘ordinary’ members) trust their pastor to the extent they have actually
made him their idol.
The dust or mist in that pharmacy
shows the demonic influences in the church, which cloud the vision and
understanding of the members. These evil influences entered through the
false teachings and the wrong, selfish motivation of the false minister.
(The Lord had given me a few other dreams where this minister was shown
as false.) None of them can see the tragic circumstances of their
position. They are all ignorant of it, just as the dream shows.
The entire building of the organized church is falling apart.
This is what the Lord has been telling the Church through His prophets
(beginning from the OT prophets, through the first Apostles’ warnings
and in our day). This is what they do not recognize and refuse to see.
My encounter with the Church “New Life” and their founder and pastor
Igor Kosovan.
The Church “New Life”
meets for their Sunday worship at 3 p.m. I was there well in advance,
about 2:30. I found out that the pastor was not there yet, so I sat down
in the hall to wait. Then a thought came to my mind that perhaps there
was another room where he and his helps could be meeting before the
service. I asked a young lady who watched the praise group’s rehearsal
about it. According to her, there was no such place. However, she
suggested that if I wanted to talk to the pastor before the meeting, I
would have a better chance if I waited for him outside the hall, on the
stairs. I followed her advice.
I waited and waited. The
members were gathering for the service, but the pastor was not coming.
As I watched the members, I did not feel moved to hand out a single
translation. They just did not seem to be interested. Finally one lady,
passing by, asked me what I was holding in my hand. I told her it was a
prophetic message from God to the Charismatic
Church. I asked her if she cared to take one. She said she did
not. She said she had everything she needed, and didn’t even have time
to read what she had. Then she mentioned Kenneth Copeland as a prophet
they were encouraged to read, saying something to the effect that if God
had anything to say to them, surely He would have given it to that man
of God.
I asked her if she
believed there exist any God’s prophets outside K Copeland (I personally
do not think he is a prophet, but did not argue with the woman). She
said she was completely content with what she had – the health, the
money, and the church teaching – and didn’t need anything from some
unknown person who could be a false prophet. So, I just wished her well.
As I was trying to talk to another young woman, that same lady turned to
me and asked what the message was about. I said, “I cannot retell you
the whole book. It talks about mistakes that need correction and wrong
teachings which mislead believers. Why not read it yourself?” So she
agreed to take a copy.
It was
2:58 p.m.,
and the pastor had not shown up yet. I prayed, “Lord, if You want me to
give a copy to this pastor as a witness, make him appear NOW, or at
least within the next 5 minutes. This will be a sign to me”. The next
moment I saw him coming up the stairs. I approached him and asked to
talk for a moment, but he didn’t even stop. Walking on, he just
commanded: “After the service!” I said: “I need just two minutes! It
will not work, to wait till after the service!” But he didn’t stop. He
only said, “well, then it’ll have to be some other time”.
I don’t
know if he had been forewarned by the first pastor about me. I only
felt he did not want to give me a chance to speak to him period! I felt
angry. It was not my fault – I had waited for him for half an hour; it
was he who was late! I began to walk downstairs leaving the place
when a thought came that I had asked for a sign from God, and He gave me
the sign! I could not leave without giving that man a copy for a
witness.
I saw a
young man who had seen me back in the hall. He saw that I was upset and
I guess he felt sorry for me. He asked me what had happened and then
said, “Do not be upset. He gets like that at times”. Then I asked him
if he would give a copy of the book to the pastor after the service and
tell him that was the message from the woman with whom he had refused to
speak. I told the young man to take it serious, because it was a message
from God he would be forwarding. He got interested, and I said I could
give him a copy if he would like to read it. He said he would.
That day I
handed out 23 copies of A Message To The Charismatic Church
in Russian, 20 copies at the first church and 3 at the second.
I was
about to leave when the blow, described in the dream of Nov. 26 came. I
saw my brother and his wife coming to the meeting. They stopped to say
hello. I told them what had happened, and my brother said: “What did
you expect? You cannot come to another’s house and try telling them how
to keep their house in order!” I replied: “You are very wrong, brother.
If I am in Christ and you are in Christ, if I have the Spirit and you
have it, then we belong to the same house of God, we are a family in
Christ, His own body! I did not come to another’s house!” I also said
something about the mission of a prophet. But he said, “if our pastor
is wrong about something, don’t you think the Lord is able to show him?”
My reply: “That is exactly why a prophet of God was moved to write this
book, why I was moved to translate it, and why I am standing here now!”
Then he said: “Don’t you think that an apostle is a prophet at the same
time?” I said: “Yes, apostles receive prophetic messages, but what makes
you think that your pastor is an apostle? What is the sign of his
apostleship?” He answered: “Because he has organized a number of
churches in Ukraine!” I was shocked by such a misconception. As an
example of how wrong he is to think that a number of followers and
churches is a sign of a true apostle I told him about Herbert W.
Armstrong and his Worldwide organization, the membership of which had
numbered many thousands – over 100,000. However, I did not have much
time to go deeply into the subject and give him other examples and
arguments.
Then my
brother said another thing that broke my heart. He said: “Let your
Malcolm find (make) his own following and then let him teach them.”
Immediately Paul’s warning about the wolves in sheep’s clothing who seek
a following for themselves came to my mind, but there was no time for
our further discussion. I only asked him if he himself had accepted what
I had given him to read (the same translation). He said he did not. He
had not admitted to it before that moment, and I think this is because
he had nothing to say to prove it wrong through the Scripture. But he
said that the spirit inside of him tells him that it is wrong. I know
this is NOT the Holy Spirit! But he will not believe me if I tell him!
On my way
home I was deeply saddened and crying. The feeling did not go away all
that evening and the next morning. It hurt me terribly to see my brother
rejecting me as a family in the Lord, just because I am trying to do
God’s will. But it hurts even worse to know how blinded he and the
others in that congregation are, led astray by that pastor. No wonder
the Lord showed me that pastor in one dream as a murderer pretending to
be an artist.
My brother
did not offend me on a human level. He did not say anything personally
rude or disrespectful. We used to have much more heated arguments, but
they did not affect me so deeply. I think it is a kind of ‘sadness in
the spirit’.
_________
On 14th March 2006, God
gave Helena this dream: At one church, they had a Thyme shrub growing on
the wall, spreading laterally to another wall. I suggested pruning it,
but someone said that permission was needed to do that.
Meaning:
Christians are meant to be rooted in the soil of God’s Word, firmly in
the ground, so they can grow upwards to God. But most Christians are
growing sideways, towards their church, governed by their human leaders.
That is idolatry!
|