Articles
for the Benefit of Members and Ex-Members of the WCG
* * *
53
A Message to the WCG
Part 3
This publication is a message of
spiritual redirection for members and ex-members of the WCG. It was first
written in 1992, revised in 1994 and also in 1998. It is also
available in print from the address at the end.
How God Works
Comment: "While there is a
great deal in what you are doing at Midnight Ministries with which I can
wholeheartedly agree, I do have some fundamental disagreements with certain
positions you take. Your booklets are excellent, but one of them I
personally (my own opinion and not necessarily right I freely acknowledge)
cannot agree with at all. I am referring to the 'Elijah' booklet. I just do
not see the work of Elijah being as you see it.
"I do not doubt your sincerity in any way, but I do
have grave reservations about what I have seen and heard on the videos you
kindly sent us (recordings of healing evangelists Dave Duell, Morris Cerullo
and Benny Hinn). I have heard mentioned many false [to him] doctrines…
"I have to ask myself, if these men are all being
used by Almighty God, then why are they in such abject ignorance of His Word
and His Truth? I think very carefully about the whole scenario and do not
want to be guilty of committing something very close to the unpardonable sin
by condemning these men in case I am mistaken and it is the power of the
Holy Spirit at work in them.
"However, I also remember the warnings in the New
Testament about not being deceived and led astray by people coming in the
name of Jesus Christ and showing great signs and wonders – Matt 24:24;
Mark 13:22; II Thes 2… etc.
"The work you are doing in reaching out to these men,
I commend and applaud and hope and pray like you that they will respond. You
have placed before them the truth concerning the law of God. Now if these
men have the Holy Spirit they will be led to understand, wouldn't you agree?
The ball is now firmly in their court, so for myself I stand back and await
the outcome…
"…One question to finish. I have looked for the
expression "slain in the Spirit" in the concordance and am unable
to find any reference. If I have overlooked something please give me a
reference to consult in the Word of God.
"Does God heal? YES. Can God heal? YES. Is it His
will to heal? YES. Is he using Morris Cerullo, Dave Duell, Benny Hinn, etc?
I HAVE GRAVE DOUBTS" (emphasis his).
Reply: It is difficult for some
Sabbatarians to understand how it is that God works with other non-Sabbatarian
Christians and Christian ministers. I am aware of the warnings to
beware of false prophets and false teachers that you gave in your letter
(Deut 13:1-4; Is 8:20; Matt 24:24; Mark 13:22). Not only am I aware, but I
could name several of such evilly-motivated individuals, whose fruits
testify against them, in the Worldwide Church of God.
In context, those verses are describing individuals whose
intent is to get people to stray away from God or from Christ. None
of those whom I have introduced to you are necessarily false prophets or
false teachers in the way the Bible is describing such. They may have
misunderstandings or hold some wrong concepts, but that does not make them
tools of the devil. We all hold wrong concepts to one extent or another.
They – like us – have all been affected by the wrong teachings which
have come from Satan, but that does not make those people of Satan in spirit
or attitude.
A Question Of The Heart
We have all been deceived in some ways by Satan, and we
all have some misunderstandings. But that does not make us 'false' in the
way the Bible is using the term in Matthew 7:15. If we are doing what we
think is right before God, as long as we do so from a right motive of the
heart, God accepts us. The critical factor is motive.
All Christians hold inaccuracies about aspects of biblical
understanding, but Worldwiders have had more serious flaws in their
thinking. They have swallowed the church's heresy about God's government in
the church, which claimed that the men who led the church were the
Government of God in the Church!
In the sixties and seventies we believed that HWA was
infallible, whenever he made doctrinal decrees for the church. We believed
he had sole right of spiritual leadership under God, and that no other
person in the church had the right to contest that concept, or to contest
his authority or 'superior' spiritual wisdom.
That was a satanic concept! It was BLASPHEMOUS! He was
misguided; and so were we to place so much confidence in a man! Was he
a false prophet? Many outside the organisation thought so. The criterion
of assessment is that of a person's personal 'fruits' (Matt 12:33; 7:16-20;
Gal 5:22,23). For the paucity of evidence of good fruits of the Holy Spirit
in HWA's life, and because of evidence of ulterior motives, he could be
regarded as a false 'prophet'. [Details are documented in Ambassador
Reports available from PO Box 60068, Pasadena, CA 91116, USA.]
He made predictions which didn't come true, based on wrong
interpretation of biblical prophecy. Did that make him a false prophet?
Whatever he, or anyone else, says, has to be weighed
according to the Word of God. Just because a man has some points of
understanding wrong, does that mean all he teaches is wrong? No. Having some
misunderstandings, does not make a person a false prophet. One can have a
good heart – a right motive – and yet be deceived on some points of
truth. Coming into the truth is a gradual process, as God leads us by His
Spirit.
All human beings – even God's ministers and prophets –
are subject to error. However, error alone does not always imply they are
intrinsically evil and therefore false 'prophets'. Humans are prone to
fallibility and presumption, but being a "ravening wolf", about
which Christ forewarned us in Matthew 7:15, is something very different.
Isaiah prophesied the following about those God uses:
"Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent?
Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing
many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth
not" (Is 42:19-20, KJV).
God's servants do not have perfect understanding. None of
us do. We are all learning. You do not have all truth and full comprehension
of how God works. Nor do I. Nor does Morris Cerullo, nor Reinhard Bonnke.
But if we are seeking to obey and follow God as we know how, according to
our understanding, we are accepted by God. God looks on the heart, not on
the head. Just because we understand some aspects of Truth which other
Christians do not, does not make them 'false' and us 'true'. They may
possess some spiritual proclivities and understanding which we do not.
The criterion which God tells us to look to in order to
test the spirits (I Jn 4:1), to discern, is not the belief or the
understanding of the individual. It is the 'fruit' – the evidence of their
innermost motives of the heart. "Ye shall know them by their
fruits…" (Matt 7:16 KJV). "Either make the tree good and the
fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt; for the
tree is known by his fruit" (Matt 12:33 KJV). "For every tree is
known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a
bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his
heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the
evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of
the abundance of his heart the mouth speaketh" (Luke 6:44-45, KJV).
The fruits we are commanded to look at are those which the
spirits produce. Are they fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-24 – fruits of
love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, helping, giving,
self-sacrifice, caring? Or are they self-elevation, pride, covetousness,
greed, envy, resentment, back-biting, prejudice, strife, selfishness,
self-will, animosity, disregard for others?
Are they positive, or are they negative? Discerning the
spirits is that 'simple'! We don't have to analyse every nuance of doctrine
to see whether an individual is guided by the Holy Spirit or not.
'Technical' doctrine is not the indicator.
Why God Permits Ignorance
God is the one who opens minds to His truth. If He chooses
to keep some ignorant of certain understanding, that is His prerogative. He
has a purpose in permitting the 'scales' to remain over the eyes of certain
Christians. It is up to Him when He opens the minds of all believers to all
His truth. For purposes which involve the maintenance of humility, and the
accomplishment of His purpose, He has decreed partial understanding for all
up until the end, "that He might have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32).
If an individual has all truth, the tendency will be for
him to become puffed up and vain, and a useless vessel as far as God is
concerned. Those whom God can use most effectively are those who have the
deepest humility. That quality has been absent in large measure from the
leadership of the Worldwide Church of God. It is also absent from the
leadership of the Philadelphia Church of God and some other Sabbatarians who
are proud of the knowledge they have. They often seem to think that they are
exclusively favoured by God and better than those who don't have such
understanding. The arrogance in assuming that they represent the only ones
through whom God is working on this earth today is repugnant to God. It has
distanced them from Him.
God says, "…to this man will I look, even to him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Is
66:2 KJV). "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, WITH HIM
ALSO THAT IS OF A CONTRITE AND HUMBLE SPIRIT…" (Is 57:15, KJV). It
doesn't say He dwells with those who have the greatest understanding of
biblical knowledge. Quite often, greater understanding produces vanity,
greater complacency and Laodicean inertness.
Sometimes God, in His wisdom, allows misunderstandings to
remain for the sake of the working out of His purpose. One such
misunderstanding about hell remains in the minds of those God is using at
this time to spearhead the work of preaching the Gospel to this world. Some
have a wrong concept of an ever-burning hell in which the unrepentant wicked
will go in the future, if they do not repent now, before Christ's return.
This generates a burning zeal in these evangelists to spread the message of
the saving power of Jesus Christ while they have the opportunity. They fear
to fail while they have the chance to reach those who could be saved,
such is the depth of their love for humanity! In ironic contrast, those of
us who understand that this is not the only day of salvation, can tend to
become complacent, rest on our 'laurels', and do little to spread the
Gospel. Where are our 'good works' in that regard? Are we hiding them under
a bushel? (Luke 11:33.)
The teaching of the WCG and that of the PCG indoctrinates
people into thinking that there is only one way of approaching God – their
way, the Sabbatarian way. If you don't think as 'we' think, pray as 'we'
pray, believe as 'we' believe, do things the way 'we' do, then you are not
being led by God – so they would claim. That is the implication and
implanted reasoning of their cultish philosophy. It is not only BLASPHEMOUS,
but also has disastrous, far-reaching consequences. It produces a
very stand-offish, prejudicial, judgemental stance towards other Christians
and those still of the world. It can cause spiritual victimisation of weaker
members who need nourishment, not condemnation. It causes those so
brain-washed to look down on others who have a different understanding, and
prevents us learning from them where they have correct points of biblical
understanding or practice. Indeed, so evil is this approach that
members of the WCG and other similar groups have a wholesale distrust of the
spiritual gifts in the 'charismatic' churches. This prejudice has led to
spiritual impoverishment and inroads of the devil in many Sabbatarian
organisations.
Spiritual Gifts Quenched
Speaking in 'tongues' – a spiritual gift given through
the Holy Spirit – has been condemned and quenched in the WCG and other
allied ritualistic groups! First Thessalonians 5:19-20 has something serious
to say about that! We are warned not to quench the Spirit and not to despise
prophesying. Prophesying was ignored in the WCG, against the inspired
instruction of the apostle Paul: "Wherefore, brethren, covet to
prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues" (I Cor 14:39, KJV).
Where are these evidences of the Holy Spirit in the WCG,
PCG, CGI, and other similar groups? They are evident in great measure in
many other Christians whom the WCG has inadvertently condemned over the
years, but they are not encouraged or even permitted development by the WCG
leadership, or Gerald Flurry, or William Dankenbring and other ritualistic
church leaders. I would like to be proven wrong, so I challenge anyone to
prove that such is not the case.
We should desire spiritual gifts, especially to
prophesy (I Cor 14:1). That is not talking about comprehending prophecy in
the Bible. It is describing being used as a vehicle through which God can
speak words of encouragement to others (I Cor 14:21). As we become sensitive
to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can allow the Holy
Spirit to lead our thinking and our speech. When the occasion arises, the
Holy Spirit will speak through us to impart words of knowledge or wisdom to
others (I Cor 12:8). God inspires those words for others' benefit.
The WCG leadership claimed prophesying was only for the
'hierarchy' of the church. Rubbish!! What ignorance or arrogance!! That's
not what God inspired the apostle Paul to write in the New Testament (I Cor
14:5; 12:11). If any received the gift of 'tongues' in the WCG (for them a
very rare event anyway), they were told to keep it quiet and even to stop
doing so! The Holy Spirit was not given freedom of expression. That damnable
approach flew in the face of the teachings expounded by Paul in I
Corinthians, "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not
unto men but unto God… howbeit IN THE SPIRIT he speaketh mysteries"
(I Cor 14:2). Paul urged the whole church to speak in tongues and
to prophesy (v 5).
Since being expelled from the church, our family has
benefited very much from the spiritual freedom we have had. As a result, we
have all been given varying spiritual gifts. Our three children all pray in
tongues and, as appropriate, give messages in tongues in our meetings, which
are also interpreted by another present. These are supernatural gifts that
were widely evident in the early Church – even among the 'carnal'
Corinthians – and which Paul encouraged all to develop for their communal
good.
The cult we have been a part of urge no such thing! They
urge the opposite! They expect the members to sit and listen to the
appointed 'minister', and are seldom permitted to take an active part in
services, certainly not in the exercise of the spiritual gifts. That is
satanic! The excessive human control of the leadership has quenched the flow
of the Holy Spirit amongst the membership.
I often wonder whether the majority in the WCG, CGI, PCG
and other off-shoot groups have gone beyond the clammed up Laodicean
condition mentioned in Revelation 3 and into the pitiful state of Sardis,
who is on the brink of spiritual death, as a result of quenching the lead of
the Holy Spirit.
Those organisations must face a time of proving. If they
are to survive, they must make radical alterations in their ceremony to
permit the free working of the Holy Spirit and the spiritual enrichment of
the members. They must radically reappraise their form of worship. They need
to vigorously purge out the dross in their ministry, who have all too often
been fed by the flock (instead of serving it), and have lived off the
fat (Ezek 34:3-5). As products of the same wrong system, we have to
dramatically re-appraise our approach and concepts also so we can come into
line with the spirituality of God's word.
If we think our biblical understanding is always right and
always superior to that of other Christians, we are of Laodicea, who is
blind to her inadequacies, and satisfied with her spiritual state. She
thinks she is spiritually superior to others, and her exclusiveness and
prejudice further traps her in her ignorance and blindness! We must not
compare ourselves with others in this regard. We must compare ourselves with
the living Word of God. Then we won't feel so great.
The Miracles Are From God!
To come to the issue of miracles performed in other
Christian groups, Jesus said. "…there is no man which shall do a
miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me" (Mark 9:39, KJV).
"For HE THAT IS NOT AGAINST US IS ON OUR PART" (v 40, KJV). This
in itself ought to be sufficient evidence to doubters that there is not
merely one organisation responsible for doing God's Work. It is also proof
that we should anticipate miracles to be an integral part of the impact of
spreading the Gospel message.
Jesus promised that "THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW
THEM THAT BELIEVE; in my name shall they CAST OUT DEVILS; THEY SHALL
SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES;… THEY SHALL LAY HANDS ON THE SICK, AND THEY
SHALL RECOVER" (Mark 16:17-18).
The evidence of these things is not to be seen in the WCG.
Where also is such evidence in the seventh-day groups? They ought to be
leading the way, if they have superior spirituality to other 'less informed'
Christians.
Morris Cerullo, Benny Hinn, Reinhard Bonnke, Dave Duell
and many other men of God can point to a wealth of miraculous testimony to
accompany their work of preaching the Gospel. And that, despite their
misunderstanding of some points of doctrine from God's Word. The reason is
simple – THEY BELIEVE! They believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to
perform such miracles, so their 'simple' faith takes God at His word, and
the evidence comes. They believe because they have a close personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. They walk and talk with Him personally. Do
you?
In the context of performing miracles, it is important to
note what Mark recorded of Jesus' words. "No-one who does a miracle in
My name can in the next moment speak anything bad about Me" (Mark
9:39). If miracles are performed in the name of Jesus Christ, you can rest
assured the devil has not done them! The devil does not perform miracles in
Jesus' name. He might perform some deceptive tricks and miracles for his own
glory, but certainly not for the glory of the One he resents!
What Satan does is perform "lying wonders" (II
Thes 2:9). He has power to do miraculous things, but in all instances they
are never for the benefit of people. They are performed to deceive,
to hinder and harm, or merely to entertain (Rev 13:14; 16:14; 19:20).
Moreover, these miracles are NEVER DONE IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. All
bona fide miracles performed in the name of Jesus are miracles of God.
Beware Arrogant Exclusivism
Where are the workers of miracles in the Church? (I Cor
12:29.) It ought to be a little more obvious by now that these men whom I
have mentioned can also be part of the Body of Christ. It's just that we
don't all see eye to eye on all doctrine at this present time (Is 52:8). Why
should that be a big deal? Can we not exhibit tolerance of others' views
even though we do not subscribe to those views ourselves? Can we not
recognise their good works, despite their imperfect understanding? We
must be careful not to allow the devil in our minds to accuse and condemn
others whom God is using – a mistake the disciples also made when they
were still 'green' (Mark 9:38).
Unfortunately, the teaching of the WCG and most of its
off-shoots allows the devil into the thinking of the membership by
instilling intolerance, prejudice, bigotry, religious 'superiority',
arrogance, and even hostility! "Out of the same mouth proceedeth
blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not so to be" (Jas
3:10, KJV).
The WCG prided itself for years that it was the only
church on the face of the earth which was preaching the true Gospel to the
world. What arrogance! What presumptuousness! Nor was it true. I don't think
they would claim to be so blatantly exclusive today, but old concepts die
hard, and the administration has done little to counteract the thinking in
the minds of members that they are the one true Church. Many members are
still infected with that exclusivist lie from bygone days. That highly
prejudiced approach towards others still lingers on in varying degrees in
the minds of members and ex-members. I'm afraid both William Dankenbring and
Gerald Flurry are tarred with the same brush. If they think they are the
only ones God can use to reach this world with the Gospel of the saving
power of Jesus, they are severely underestimating God's capabilities! They
are pathetically deceived!
How is one man, who does not expound the name of Jesus,
going to achieve the globe-girdling task of preaching this Gospel to the
whole world for a witness? For a start, where are the miracles which
authenticate the Gospel, and which bear WITNESS to the POWER OF THE NAME OF
JESUS CHRIST? Where is the message of DELIVERANCE? Deliverance from demonic
control; deliverance from sickness; deliverance from sin and from death;
deliverance from spiritual poverty; deliverance from every imaginable evil,
through the name of Jesus Christ?
The work of the WCG, CGI, PCG, or any other exclusivist
group cannot possibly be the work of the end-time Elijah. How is one small,
limited group, without miracle-working faith, capable of all this?
How can they turn the hearts of the fathers to the children? How can they
reach into every corner of the world? The work of the 'Elijah' is not the
work of a mere man. The end-time work is the work of the Holy Spirit – a
mighty work of miraculous POWER, bearing testimony to the undeniable
supremacy of the living Jesus Christ!! It brings a foretaste of God's power
soon to be spectacularly revealed to the world!
I do not mean to be disparaging of any man's sincere
efforts. Of course, any can have their part to play in this work of the Holy
Spirit, but one man or one group alone is not the 'Elijah'. If you wanted to
try and single out one man on whom you could pin this 'tag', the prize ought
to go to someone like Derek Prince. (Not that any man should receive
this 'tag'.)
More than 50 years ago, he received a supernatural
personal visitation similar to that which the apostle Paul experienced.
Through that spectacular experience with Jesus he was converted, and ever
since he has followed Christ's call to publish and preach the Gospel
throughout the world. As of writing, in 1992, Today With Derek Prince,
a 15-minute radio Bible teaching, goes out on 63 daily broadcasts throughout
30 states of the USA, including 13 major metropolitan areas; as well as 2
daily broadcasts in Canada; 2 in Puerto Rico; 42 other daily English
broadcasts to Europe and Western Russia, Britain and Ireland, South and
Central America, the Middle East, Southwest Africa (Namibia – 13
stations), Central South Africa and Swaziland, India and Pakistan. In New
Zealand he has daily broadcasts on 10 stations reaching most of New Zealand,
2 in Australia, as well as a broadcast in both English and Tongan in Tonga.
To continue, Derek Prince under his Chinese name "Ye
Gwang Ming" ("Clear Light"), makes 6 daily radio Bible
broadcasts in the following five Chinese languages: Mandarin, Amoy,
Cantonese, Shanghaiese, and Swatow. His follow-up of 140 cassette messages
contain extensive Bible teaching, not solely in Chinese languages, not to
mention a myriad of books (including a Bible study course) in Chinese,
Russian, Latvian, Spanish, English, Arabic, and Hebrew.
His self-study Bible course is available in Arabic,
Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, and Urdu.
Translations are in progress in Burmese, French, Hebrew, Iban, Malay,
Russian, Spanish, Tongan, as well as 11 African languages (Afrikaans,
Chichewa, Efik, Hausa, Lunda, Shona, Sotho, Swahili, Tswanu, Yoruba, Zulu).
His foundation series of teaching material is printed in
the following languages: Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Hebrew, Hungarian,
Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Swedish, Telugu, and
Tongan. Translations are in progress into Afrikaans, Amharic, Burmese,
Endebele, German, Hindi, Japanese, Malayalam, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian,
Spanish, and Twi.
Out of his more than 30 books about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, at least 5 are available in each of the following languages:
Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German,
Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lugandan,
Polish, Portuguese, Pushtoo, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish,
Swedish, Telugu, Tongan, Ukrainian, Urdu.
If any man should 'take the biscuit' for being the
'Elijah', surely Derek Prince has good enough qualifications!? No one with
true objectivity could claim that Derek Prince does not have a
Gospel-preaching commission direct from our Saviour. His work goes from
strength to strength! He preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of how Christ
has died to pay the penalty of all our sins and made available to us
complete deliverance from every type of bondage caused by sin, through the
power of Jesus' life within us. And also, his 'fruits' are good! There is
evidence of the spirituality of God's love. Yet, despite God's guidance, not
all he preaches is identical to our biblical understanding. Why doesn't God
give all believers the same understanding at the same time?
Maybe it is time for us to reflect upon the words of
Isaiah 55:8. What may seem so illogical or irrational to us is often not
viewed the same way by God. Obviously God does not consider it important for
the time being, for all truth to be revealed to all Christians. For His
purpose of preaching the Gospel to the world as a witness about Jesus
Christ, we can only conclude that God has made available what He has
considered necessary for the majority until now. God has all wisdom. We
don't.
Who has understood the mind of the Lord? (Rom
11:34.)
'Slain' By The Holy Spirit
To come to your query about being 'slain in the Spirit'.
This term is not specifically mentioned in the Bible because it was 'coined'
by those to whom this phenomenon has become a common reality in this age.
There is one fairly obvious evidence of it in the Bible,
and it is to be found in John 18:6. [More about this phenomenon is covered
in MG2, A Message to Law-Keepers.] When the mob sent by the chief
priests came to arrest Jesus, they came looking for Him in the Garden of
Gethsemane. Jesus went up to them and asked whom they were looking for. They
replied, "Jesus of Nazareth", to which He retorted, "I
am". Immediately He said that name, they fell backward to the ground.
They were 'slain' by the power of the Holy Spirit, to use the modern
parlance. The mob was strongly influenced by Satan, if not possessed by him,
and the power of Satan is no match for the power of God.
In 'modern' evangelistic meetings held to glorify the name
of God, and to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, where the evangelist has
been given a powerful 'anointing' of God, the power of the Holy Spirit
available in his ministry is so great that frequently those who are strongly
demon influenced (not necessarily possessed) collapse in the same way. Any
who are not filled by the Holy Spirit to the same degree also are 'slain in
the Spirit', as the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon them.
Individuals who have never before surrendered their lives
to God and whom God is calling, there and then come under the power of God
in a very positive way. If they want to put their past lives behind them and
live God's way (to the best of their understanding), God 'baptises' them in
the Holy Spirit and they experience a change in their mental approach (a
mental or spiritual 're-birth').
God does not always work this way. With some, the
process of conversion or being 'born again' is a gradual process of
submission. For others it is dramatic and sudden. God knows how to reach
different individuals.
One apostle, Colin Urquhart, described his own dilemma
over this very matter when it first happened in his meetings. While he was
praying for people to be healed, or for them to receive the Holy Spirit,
they would collapse. This disturbed him. Being close to God, and not having
experienced this phenomenon before, he was concerned that it might not be
pleasing to God.
While ministering in a church in Tasmania he prayed as
usual before ministering personally to the people, "'Lord, I do not
want to resist your purposes in any way; neither do I want to become
involved in anything that is dishonouring to your name. I ask you not to
allow anyone to fall down if this is not your purpose. But I submit my will
to yours. If this is your purpose, please give me some undeniable evidence
of that fact tonight'.
"Towards the end of the meeting a number of people
came forward for healing. All, except for one man, fell to the floor when I
prayed for them and he was so unsteady a chair had to be brought for
him" (Faith for the Future, pp 70-72).
Colin said, "Alright, Lord; you win!"
Still puzzled by it all, a few days later he noticed one
lady had lain on the floor long after the end of another service. He
enquired of her, "What has the Lord been doing?"
"Showing me who is boss," was her simple reply.
Her pastor later told Colin that this woman had been a
great concern to him because she had stubbornly refused to submit to God's
authority in her life, and because of this she had not received the healing
she needed. During the hour or so she had lain on the floor she had
experienced a real encounter with the Lord who spoke directly to her about
the root of her rebellion.
Colin concluded, "I could now see at least one good
reason for this strange phenomenon" (Ibid. pg. 72).
God uses different avenues to reach people of different
make-up. He uses this means of being slain in the Spirit as an initial
experience to call or convert certain ones, just as He did the apostle Paul
on the road to Damascus. God will fill the person with His Spirit once that
person has yielded their life to God in humble submission.
Worldwiders, unfortunately, are generally not open to
receiving from God in this way. Because of their prejudice against
supernatural phenomena, they are not receptive to the miraculous moving of
God. You have to believe in order to receive.
Some dispute this phenomenon because of their
preconceptions. They have been taught that the Holy Spirit is only given
upon repentance first, then water baptism. "Only after one is baptised
in water," some claim, "can one receive the Holy Spirit. Therefore
being slain in the Spirit is bogus."
To insist, as the WCG has done, that water baptism is
essential prior to receiving the Holy Spirit is too legalistic. God is not
bound by His own rules. He gives the Holy Spirit when He wants to; He
knows best. There is no need for such excessive human control. I'm not
saying that we shouldn't be baptised, we should, following an
expression of our desire to repent. But to insist that God doesn't give the
Holy Spirit to any who have not been baptised is too legalistically rigid.
The case of Cornelius alone (in Acts 10) ought to make us think again in
this regard. God wants to give the Holy Spirit to any who ask Him for
it, far more than we desire to provide good things for our children!
(Luke 11:13.) And on many occasions He will do so. Then He expects them to
get baptised as an outward sign of their inward change.
Prejudice Can Get In Our Way
Our background has left many of us with tragic scars.
Scars in our thinking which have cauterised our minds to the immense love of
God for all people. The one scripture which HWA seemed to purposely avoid
preaching was John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life". It seems this embarrassed him to preach the
same as everyone else. To emphasise belief in Jesus (as verses 17 and 18 do)
seemed to be an admission of defeat for the concepts he espoused, one of
which was that observance of the Sabbath is an essential requirement for
salvation.
It is not – if God has not revealed it to a
believer's mind. Faith in Jesus is the key to receiving God's grace
for salvation and for healing. 'Works' come later, but 'works' do not
qualify us for salvation at all. They are a reflection of our love for God.
Many in the WCG, PCG and CGI do not recognise this biblical axiom.
The philosophy of the WCG has tended to reduce God's love
to the level of human legalism, something for which the Pharisees were
roundly condemned by Christ. This same dogma permeates all men's religions,
whether it is the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholicism, Mormonism,
Islam, Buddhism or whatever. It is not a part of true Christianity.
True Christianity is based on a reciprocal love. God
showed His love for us first, in that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice
that we might not die, but have eternal life (Jn 3:16). He did this while we
were still sinners (Rom 5:8). When we recognise our personal guilt in this
regard and are broken in spirit, He can reach us and give us His Spirit.
Then we can begin to live His way, according to the love which He has
which cares for all humanity. This is not a legalistic, rigid, un-feeling
‘love’, which ritualistic Sabbatarians have too often witnessed. It is a
love which flows from the depths of one's innermost being. That is the mind
of God!
We can understand the mind of the Lord! But first
we must shed wrong concepts.
Signs And Wonders
Finally, may I return to a point that we brought up at the
outset – the subject of "signs and wonders". Some have been
alarmed and unsure about them, not knowing how to tell whether they are from
the power of the Holy Spirit, or from the devil.
Briefly, if you check what the devil's signs and wonders
are in the biblical context, you will find that they were not miracles of
healing the sick or deliverance from the power of demons, which are primary
signs and wonders promised to those who faithfully proclaim the Gospel of
Christ (Mark 16:17-18). They are something totally different, but not
specified. Obviously they vary according to the situation.
In Deuteronomy 13:1-4, the 'sign' or 'wonder' was probably
a portent predicted to come to pass, such as was given to the girls in
Fatima, Portugal, prior to the visions of the so-called virgin Mary. [This
is explained more fully in The Mystery of the Invisible, available
from the address at the end.]
Deuteronomy 13:2 says the miraculous sign was given for
the express purpose of deceiving and leading people away from worship
of the true God, into idolatry.
The signs and wonders which are produced by the Holy
Spirit according to the faith of believers in the ministries of Reinhard
Bonnke, Morris Cerullo, Dave Duell, Benny Hinn, Colin Urquhart, or any
Christian ministry (because all believers can receive the
miraculous from God!), are not in that category. They are not performed for
the purpose of deceiving, but for the purpose of glorifying the name of
Jesus and delivering from sin and the devil, in the name of Jesus. We
are told to look to the 'fruits' (Matt 12:33), not to judge by what might appear
to be odd or unusual because we are not used to that sort of occurrence (Jn
7:24).
Miracles performed by Jesus are done in the name of Jesus.
The devil's miracles are not done in that name. The devil is able to perform
miracles of curiosity. But he is not able to perform a miracle of love;
nor can he do any miracle in the name of Jesus Christ. He flees at the
exercise of that authority!
It is not easy unlearning false concepts which we have had
firmly implanted in our minds by men whose motive, whilst it may have been
hard to know, had evil results. It is part of the bad fruit of a corrupt
system of church government which exercised spiritual CONTROL of the
membership and thwarted the development and free individual expression of
spiritual gifts. Spiritual domination and control is not of God; it is
satanic!
These are the evils from which we all have to extricate
ourselves (Rev 18:4), in order to move into the fullness of all that God
wants for us through Jesus Christ. Once we can do that, we can also be part
of this great work of the 'Elijah', performing collectively far greater
spiritual feats than Jesus performed while He was on this earth (Jn 14:12).
Malcolm B Heap
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