Real Truth Digest

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit & How To Receive It

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:26:00 +0000

The Baptism in the Holy evidenced by the gift of tongues is a separate and distinct experience to salvation. Both salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, however, are a work of the Holy Spirit. In salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live within the believer — this is the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit. In the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the believer is enveloped by and immersed in the Holy Spirit; that is to say, the Holy Spirit comes UPON the believer in contrast to INTO the believer. These facts are clearly supported by Scripture and are exemplified by the experience of Jesus Himself, who is our supreme Model.

It is a very simple matter for any believer to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is a gift bestowed by God totally on the basis of grace, not merit. Jesus is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. God's Word says He will baptize any believer who in faith believing asks Him to baptize him or her in the Holy Spirit. The believer need only to receive it by faith, not by any humanly-invented form or formula.

Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit into human form in a similar way as believers are Born Again (it was not necessary for Jesus to be "born again" because He was not born of the sin nature as are humans, but rather was "begotten" of God the Father).

Mat. 1:18-20
Luke 1:26-38

Jesus Himself was Baptized in the Holy Spirit, and thereby became the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:16-23 Jesus' personal experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:33 Jesus, The Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, baptizes the early Church.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is in regeneration, that is, in the Born Again experience, or salvation.

John 3:3-8 The regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in salvation.
John 4:7-14 Here, Jesus speaks allegorically of the Holy Spirit becoming "a well of water springing up to Eternal Life" as He takes up residence in the Born Again believer.
John 14:16-20 The Holy Spirit "will be IN you."

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is another working of the Holy Spirit, effecting an adjunctive, i.e., separate and distinct, experience from regeneration (i.e., salvation).

John 7:37-39 Jesus describes here the effect of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in which the Holy Spirit becomes "rivers of living water" flowing out unto others, compared to the personal work of the Holy Spirit within the believer in regeneration in which the Holy Spirit is as a " well" (container) of water, as mentioned in C,3 above. In regeneration, the Holy Spirit comes to live in the believer, bringing the Life of God manifest in the fruit of the Spirit, making the believer a CONTAINER of the Life of God. In the Spirit-Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes upon the believer, bestowing the power of God manifest in the gifts of the Spirit, making the believer a CONDUIT through whom the supernatural giftings of the Holy Spirit flow out unto others.
John 20:22 The early disciples received the working of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. In simple terms, when Jesus breathed upon the disciples, He was dispensing the Holy Spirit for regeneration unto them, that is, to be saved. This was the first dispensation of the Holy Spirit in salvation after Jesus completed His priestly mission, thereby providing salvation. It was at this point, that the disciples were saved and experienced the rebirth.
Luke 24:44-49 Though the disciples were saved and the Holy Spirit had come to live within them, still Jesus instructed the disciples to "wait" in the city of Jerusalem until He sent forth yet another promise of God the Father upon them, which would result in them being "clothed with power from on high," to wit: the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:1-8 In his second book, Luke recounts again the last dissertation of Jesus prior to His ascension. However, he also adds some very important details which did not appear in his synoptic book. In verses 4 and 5, he includes Jesus' interpretation of His phrase, "the promise of the Father. ("Which you heard of from Me" indicates that Jesus had taught the disciples about this matter on previous occasions as well.) Jesus clearly and explicitly defines the promise of the Father as being the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In verse 8, Jesus explains that the effect of the Holy Spirit will be that the disciples would receive supernatural power to bear witness of Christ.
Acts 2 "The proof is in the eating." The fulfillment of Jesus prediction conclusively proves that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the accompanying evidence of the gift of tongues is the "promise of the Father," and that it is a subsequent and separate experience to salvation. The disciples were saved in the upper room on Easter Evening, at which time they received the fullness of the Holy Spirit in themselves (i.e., in their regenerated human spirit); yet it was after salvation, that they were clothed with, or enveloped in, or immersed (the meaning of the word "baptized") in the Holy Spirit.
Further evidence that that which occurred on the Day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of the prophesied "promise of the Father," is evident in Peter's declaration, "this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I shall pour out of My Spirit UPON all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (prophecy can be manifested in the common languages of the hearers or in the variable form of tongues accompanied by interpretation of tongues). The portion of Joel's prophecy reiterated by Peter in verse 18, to wit: "And on My servants and handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy," offers further proof that this outpouring of the Spirit would fall upon saved believers as a separate and subsequent experience to salvation.

The initial (not exclusive) evidence that a person has been baptized in the Holy Spirit is tongues. Proof-positive of that fact is found in the fact that ALL of the early believers (including all of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb) who were baptized in the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues.

Acts 2:1-21 The Apostles of the Lamb and Early Church disciples.
Acts 8:5-19 Samarians are baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues. (Note: While Luke's account here does not specifically state these believers spoke in tongues when they received the Spirit Baptism, Simon "saw" something that was tangible evidence they had indeed received it, which evidence was most likely tongues.)
Acts 9:1-18; 1 Cor. 14:18 The Apostle Paul is baptized in the Spirit and received as a result the gift of tongues.
Acts 10:34-46 The first group of Gentiles are baptized in the Spirit.
Acts 19:1-6 Ephesian disciples of John The Baptist are baptized in the Spirit.
1 Cor. 1:4-7; Chps. 12,13,14 The Corinthian believers were Spirit-Baptized and recipients of the gift of tongues. The Apostle Paul had to write to delineate some "rules of proper order" for exercising the gifts of the Spirit in public assemblies.

God desires for ALL believers to speak in tongues — 1 Cor. 14:5.
All believers should pray and sing in the spirit, that is to say, in tongues — 1 Cor. 14:14,15. (In verse 14, Paul clearly indicates that one is "praying in the Spirit" when he prays in tongues.)
Praying in the Spirit (in tongues) is praying in the perfect will of God — Rom. 8:26,27.
Jesus gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to everyone who asks Him for it — Luke 11:13.
Anyone who is thirsty for the Holy Spirit need only to come to Jesus and DRINK (i.e., ingest; receive by faith) of the water of the Spirit — Jn. 7:37,38.
What to do to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

If you are a believer, you can receive the Baptism (Immersion) in the Holy Spirit.
If you earnestly desire to be totally immersed in the "rivers of living water" of the Holy Spirit, you can be, right now. All you need to do is to ask Jesus and then simply drink in the Holy Spirit. Lift both hands to Heaven and pray this prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I have believed upon you as my Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit lives within me. I know I am already saved. But, John the Baptist testified you were the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. I ask you now to baptize me in the Holy Spirit and clothe me with power from on high. I receive this baptism now by faith.

Now take in a deep breath and "drink" in the Holy Spirit. Receive by faith! You will now begin to sense a "bubbling forth" sensation from your innermost being in the region of your belly. Open your mouth and begin to speak the praises of God in the unknown utterances the Holy Spirit speaks forth through you from within. Don't be concerned if only a few short sounds that you do not understand come forth initially — just speak them forth in faith, abandoning pride and self-consciousness. Remember unknown tongues are words and languages you yourself do not understand (but God does).
Exercise your prayer language whenever possible, and it will continue to develop. If you do not use it, it is possible to lose it.
Be prepared for the attack of the devil and his attempts to steal from you what you have received from God — resist his lies; he is a liar and the father of lies! A common lie he comes to you with is that this is just all in your imagination, and that you just got caught up in an emotional moment; you didn't really receive an "unknown language" — you were just making those sounds up yourself. He's a liar! Think for a moment; ask yourself two things: did these sounds seem to come out of your head? did you think about it and make the sounds up? Or, did they seem to "float up" out of your innermost being ("belly," Jesus called it)? Secondly, have you ever done this before? If not, then why did these sounds just start to "float up" out of you when you asked Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit? The devil is a liar! — command him to leave you in Jesus Name, and he will flee!

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This teaching is now available in a book (print, ebook & audiobook), DUNAMIS! Power From On High, by Dr. Lambert.

Cessationism Refuted

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000

My good friend, Charles Carrin, as a Baptist pastor for more than twenty-five years, was much like Apollos before Priscilla and Aquila "took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." Like Apollos, he was "an eloquent man...and he was mighty in the Scriptures," he "had been instructed in the way of the Lord" in Baptist schools, was "fervent in spirit," and "was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus," meaning the Gospel of Christ's sacrifice. However, Charles, like Apollos and myriad other sincere and fervent traditional denominational ministers today, was "acquainted only with the baptism of John," the original Baptist.

This simply was the way it was for this very eloguent and learned Bible scholar and teacher for nearly three decades of service as a Baptist pastor, until one day when, in the midst of severe trial and spiritual dryness and emptiness, he had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit, and despite all his refutations, protestations, and contrarian beliefs, was thoroughly IMMERSED or BAPTIZED in both the water and the fire of the Holy Spirit! Himself and his theology forever changed! From that day forward, cessation theories for Charles Carrin were thoroughly expunged from his theology, but more importantly, his personal relationship with the God-Head. From that day forward, He had no more questions regarding the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, no not one!

After nearly eighty years of living and over sixty in the Kingdom, Charles has come to some specific conclusions concerning what the Spirit says in the Word of God about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as well as the Dunamis-Power of God unto supernatural manifestations of the Spirit throughout the Church Age. This learned and articulate servant of God in this article does a masterful job of refuting the wholly indefensible cessation theories espoused by so many denominations and so-called "fundamentalists" today, who, unfortunately, continue to "invalidate the Word of God by their traditions."

KINGDOM FAITH OR KINGDOM FICTION — WHICH IS IT?
By Charles Carrin

The New Testament gospel is powerful, eternal, perpetually true. Two thousand years after its presentation to the world it is still relevant, unabridged, unchallengeable. When Charles Spurgeon was asked how he defended the gospel, he replied, "I don’t defend the gospel any more than I would defend a lion. I just open the cage and let it out."

Jesus called His message the "gospel of the Kingdom." That message has never been, nor will ever be changed. Nor will it become a gospel of the church. The Kingdom knows no failure. The Kingdom is triumphant, victorious, all-conquering. The Kingdom is permanent, unchanging. The Kingdom needs no such excuse. To absolve herself of blame.

The church is subject to great failure. The church is schismatic, self-indulging, unreliable. The church is temporal, justifies herself and vindicates her failures. The church has invented an escape-hatch called Cessationist Theology. This pleasant sounding expression declares that God has withdrawn the Holy Spirit’s miraculous power from the church. The church has a book — the Bible — and little more than that. We have no power because God has removed it. The fault is not our’s.

Much of modern, evangelical Christianity is a parallel of the ministry of Apollos. It is sincere, eloquent, accurately teaching Bible truth as far as it allows itself to believe. But its doctrine is measured by its own opinion–it is afraid to measure its doctrine by Scripture.

Dispensationalism — the claim that miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit passed away — dominates traditional Christianity. Jesus said there would be no such change. Hear His words: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. Matthew 28:20. Jesus fully expected the church "at the end of the age" to believe and teach "all things" that He had commanded the original disciples.

The Apostle Jude did not believe the cessationist claim. Instead, he presented one of the New Testament’s strongest defenses for the gospel’s unalterability. He said, "I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). The "once for all" in our English Bibles comes from a valuable little Greek word, "hapax." In spite of its small size hapax carries significant authority. It means: "one, a single time, conclusively, absolutely all, every one."

This hapax-expression appears at least eight times in the Greek New Testament. It is translated "once for all" five times in the New King James Version. Three additional times the New International Version translates it as "once." In every instance hapax establishes the unchangeability of its subject. Six of the references below apply directly to Jesus, one applies to the believer, and the final one to Kingdom faith. In four instances in the Greek text the preposition "epi" (upon) is added to reinforce the "once for all" meaning.

The Hapax Scriptures

1. Romans 6:10. "For the death that Jesus died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."

2. Hebrews 7:27. "Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this Jesus did once for all when He offered up Himself."

3. Hebrews 9:12. "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood Jesus entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."

4. Hebrews 9:26-27. "He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

5. Hebrews 10:2-3. For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

6. Hebrews 10:10. "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

7. 1 Peter 3:18. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

8. Jude 3. "Beloved ... I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

To which of these hapax–"once for all" — passages are you willing to apply Cessation Theology? Would your theology be complete if any of the "once for all" references were removed from the work of Jesus? Would you like any of these subjects to be vulnerable to change? Are you genuinely glad that they are "hapax" — "once for all" — secure? If so, it is impossible for you to endorse Cessationist Theology. You cannot accept the works of Jesus as hapax and then deny the Holy Spirit the same respect in His maintaining hapax in the permanency of Scripture. You cannot do it and uphold integrity with the Word!

Modern Christianity has convinced itself that Jesus provided two distinct gospels and two distinct faiths — one for the first century church and one for those who followed after. The first was miraculously empowered; the second was not. The first had the baptismal gift of the Holy Spirit; the second was merely given a book telling what the Holy Spirit had achieved in the past. Hear the truth: Jesus provided everyone — past, present, future — with a faith which was hapax-true, hapax-strong, hapax-forever.

The fact is this: Whether you and I accept it or not, the original "faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" is still intact. It is unaltered. In a conclusive, unchangeable way the faith of the Apostolic Era was delivered for "all time" intact to every subsequent generation. There will never be another.

Someone argues, "But I have never seen the miraculous works of the Holy Spirit in my church!" True. But the fault lies with the church, not with God. The contemporary church is a victim of its own unbelief. It has created its blighted condition.

Observe that the Apostle Jude said he:

1. Found it "necessary"
2. To "exhort you"
3. To "contend earnestly"

This agrees perfectly with Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 28:18-20 that believers to "the end of the age" be taught to "observe all things that I have commanded you" (the original disciples). Then, as if to emphasize the unchangeability of the gospel’s time-span, He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Observe the expression "all things". What did He mean by that expression? Scripture does not leave us to wonder. Matthew 10:7-9 makes it very plain: "As you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." When He said, "teach them all things...to the end of the age," this is what He meant.

The obvious message is that the gospel — and the faith arising from it — have been permanently given one time and will never be given again. That initial provision is sufficient "once for all" time and "once for all" people. In an emphatic way, this says that New Testament faith, doctrinally and experientially, as it was originally presented by the Holy Spirit, is unchangeable. It cannot be added to or taken from. Any cessationist claim otherwise is a hoax. Such an accusation insults the Cross and the work of the Holy Spirit (cf., 2 Peter 1:21).

Even so, the idea is rampant in modern Christianity that parts of the Covenant-Book which Jesus ratified by the sprinkling of His blood (Hebrews 9:11-15), have lost validity. This supposedly occurred at the death of the Apostle John in 70 a.d., or when the New Testament books were canonized into one volume in a.d. 367.

The truth is, modern Christians have invented that monstrous idea. We have done so because we do not want accountability for our own failures. If we can justify the absence of God’s miraculous presence by claiming He withdrew it from us, we don’t have to accept blame for our having withdrawn ourselves from Him.

The Bible’s Example

The Book of Acts gives us a working model of a conscientious, godly pastor who preached a powerless gospel. Like many today, Apollos was pastor of a small, struggling congregation. He was faithful, loved God, served the congregation, but was totally bereft of power. While he was away from his home at Ephesus, Paul came and found his church of 12 male disciples with wives and children. In spite of Apollos having excellent credentials for ministry, Paul immediately recognized powerlessness in the man’s flock. Both Paul and Apollos were servants of God, both equally loved the church, and each possessed vast knowledge of Scripture. Even so, a major discrepancy existed between their ministries. Paul had power; Apollos did not. Paul preached the gospel of the Kingdom; Apollos obviously knew nothing about it.

In light of the Apostle Jude’s exhortation to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints," we see how Apollos — though innocent of any evil intent — had accepted a partial gospel and experienced partial results. The ministries of Paul and Apollos are a parallel of pastors and churches today. I emphasize the fact that Apollos was ignorant because he had never been taught — not because he had knowingly rejected the truth. In our day pastors fall into two groups: Those who have never been taught and are innocently ignorant of spiritual gifts and those who willfully reject spiritual gifts. Carefully observe these seven facts which Scripture records about Apollos:

1. He was a Jew.
2. An eloquent man.
3. Mighty in Scripture.
4. Instructed in the way of the Lord.
5. Fervent in spirit.
6. Taught accurately the things of the Lord.
7. But: He knew only the "baptism of John" — that is, he knew nothing about the Baptism in the Spirit. He had a partial gospel and a partial faith.

When Paul recognized spiritual-powerlessness in the Ephesians, he asked the all-revealing question, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They responded, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." This tragic ignorance existed because Apollos knew only the "baptism of John." He knew nothing about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and had left his congregation in that same condition. Paul immediately instructed the Ephesians about the Holy Spirit's empowering and when he "laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." That event proved to be a cataclysmic change not only for Ephesus but for the rest of the Roman world.

Under Apollos' ministry, the church at Ephesus accomplished absolutely nothing to awaken the city. It demonstrated no Kingdom power, remained spiritually paralyzed, and except for the local Synagogue, its presence was virtually unknown. In that state, the congregation had no effective witness, made no impact on the people, was no threat to "powers, principalities, rulers of the darkness of this world," etc. Instead, the dark cloud of paganism gripped the land with unchallenged control. The Temple of Diana — or Artemas — already famous as the greatest of all Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, dominated the area. It was in the shadow of this formidable enemy that this minuscule church, ineffective and unknown, lay dormant.

That changed when Paul arrived. When he came on the scene, Ephesus experienced a "Kingdom of God" earthquake. Paul was not the power but he was the instrument for the truth that produced the shaking. He merely provided the window through whom the power roared; Apollos and twelve other windows were already present in Ephesus but they had never been opened.

Jesus Said "The Scripture Cannot Be Broken"

"Jesus answered them, ‘Is it not written in your law*, 'I said, "You are gods'? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand." (John 10:34-40) [*Psalm 82:6]

Jesus reminded the Jews that it was David — not Himself — who first wrote about God miraculously empowering the saints. Those fortunate ones to whom "the word of God comes" are so changed and endowed that in the eyes of the demonic-world — in a comparative sense — they become gods (with a little "g"). Simply stated, Jesus intended the saints to exercise power over the demonic realm (cf., Luke 10:19).

It was Jesus who said "The Scripture CANNOT be broken." That means that the New Testament is still intact. No part is out-dated and it cannot be victimized by cessationist teaching. In believing it we open ourselves to receive a miraculous imparting of its "word". Those to whom the word of God comes are changed from ordinary humanity into extraordinary humanity. The "word of the Lord came" to Abraham, Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, John the Baptist, the first disciples, others. All of these experienced transformation when the "word of God" came to them. This is the only sensible explanation for the explosive growth of Christianity in the Roman world.

What Happens Today When The True "Word of God" Comes With Power?

1. Psalm 107:19-20. "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."

2. Matthew 8:16-17. "When evening had come, they brought unto him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all who were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, He Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses."

3. Luke 4:31-36. "Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. And in the synagogue there was a man, who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know you who you are — the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him, and did not hurt him. Then they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."

4. Acts 2:40-41. "And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that about three thousand souls were added unto them."

5. Titus 1:1-3. "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began; But has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior."

6. I John 2:4-6. "He who says, I know him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him: By this know we that we are in him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." (The "Word" is already perfected, so what is being perfected? The one who receives the word.)

7. Luke 1:38. Mary was impregnated when she told the angel, "Be it unto me according to your word."

8. Matthew 4:4. Jesus said: "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

9. Matthew 24:35. Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall pass a way but My words will by no means pass away."

10. God the Father said: "My Covenant I will not break nor alter the Word that is gone out of my lips." Psalm 89:34.

11. John 17:8. Jesus said to the Father: "For I have given to them (the disciples) the words which You have given Me, and they have received them...."

12. I Peter 1:25. Peter said: "But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

13. II Peter 1:21. Peter said again: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

14. II Timothy 3:16. Paul said: "Be diligent...rightly diving the word of truth." II Timothy 2:1. Paul said again: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable."

15. Galatians 1:8. Paul said once more: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed."

16. Psalm 119:89. David said: "Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in Heaven."

If you are one of those believers whose Cessationist Theology denies the integrity of Scripture or the Holy Spirit’s miraculous gifts, stop it! You are on the losing team! You are on God’s opposing team!

Kingdom faith is fact, not fiction! Hapax — "once for all."

Charles Carrin
Apr 23, 2009

The Curse Of Unauthorized Covenants

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:02:00 +0000

For nearly thirty years, I have been doing all the Lord has allowed, anointed, and enabled me to do to set captives of spiritual authoritarian abuse free from the bonds of witchcraft, or the "yoke of slavery," in which they are ensnared.

In the last few years, the Lord has kindled a fire in my belly for the State of Florida in particular. Not only to do what I can to set the captives residing in this State free, but also to be used of the Lord to ignite prophesied fires of revival and refinement in the humanly nicknamed "Sunshine State," but Heavenly named, "Sonshine State."

Florida is an apostolic state, in that the apostolic anointing and function is a "first-in" anointing and function (1 Cor. 12:28) — a forerunner, pioneering, breakthrough anointing. Virtually all the original famed explorers' forays into the New World were along Florida's then surreal sand-covered beaches. Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de Leon, is accredited with the original discovery, in 1513, of the pristine paradisal peninsula, which is encompassed on three sides by the immense waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. The lush flora and foliage pervading it partially influenced the awed adventurer's naming of the newly found land.

Further demonstrating the State's apostolic roots, though it is not been widely chronicled, a number of critical conflicts, conflagrations, and events precipitating the colonization and early establishment of America occurred here in Florida.

Florida is a proverbial "Fort Knox," financially speaking, because much of the world's wealthiest and most influential people reside in or hold properties or interests somewhere in the pearled peninsula. For multiple consecutive years, the sparse, exclusive enclaves of Jupiter/Hutchison Islands have been ascribed the wealthiest per household hamlets in America. The unimaginable dense concentration of mammon represented in the State of necessity then comprises a lion share of the "wealth of the wicked" God declares is stored up for the righteous of the End-times Church Jesus is building that is required to finance the final great global in-gathering of souls.

For these reasons and much more that cannot be addressed in this article, one of the most ferocious pitched battles between Heaven and Hell is over the 60,000 total square miles of land mass comprising the State of Florida, but more importantly, over the some 18 million souls who inhabit it. Numerous profound and portentous prophecies by prominent voices foretelling major moves of the Spirit of God have been trumpeted during the 20th and now early part of the 21st Centuries. What some have purported to be a "Prophetic Movement," which is a precursor of the nascent "Apostolic Movement," was launched from the panhandle of Florida, where one of the most significant modern protracted outbreaks of the Spirit, the "Brownsville Revival," also occurred. The sleepy Central Florida town of Lakeland was the somewhat unlikely host of the so-called "river" or "laughing" revival in the early 1990s through the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne and the aegis of Carpenter's Home Church, itself a significant phenomenon, burgeoning into a multi-thousand-member super-church over the span of three decades in the late 1900s. Similar growth bursts transpired during that same span in a number of other Florida locales as well. Still today, Florida is graced with a number of mega- and super- and large Neo-Pentecostal churches that are offshoots of the spectrum of spiritual streams flowing in the State.

Unfortunately, however, as an apostolic State, the master-deceiver, the "prince of the power of the air," has also in times past hijacked the spiritual air-currents of the fair State whose name is also partially derived from the Spanish word for Easter, for propagation of some of his most diabolical and damaging handiworks of deception — "winds of doctrine," i.e., false movements founded on "doctrines of demons" — in modern church history. One of the most prominent of those false movements was the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement of the 1970s, spawned in the South Florida coastal town of Fort Lauderdale. The deviant doctrines dispersed through that false movement eventually permeated the fabric, foundation, and functions of the Charismatic Movement, ultimately effecting its derailment and demise, as well as the defilement of its myriad of spiritual offspring (believers, churches, ministries) with the spiritually decimating disease of hyper-authoritarianism.

From the vantage point of 2005, it is clear that the effect of the spiritual plague was of epidemic proportions. Veritable spiritual genocide has transpired. Not just in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal but denominational and non-Charismatic consortiums as well. None of the present streams of the Spirit — i.e., spirit-oriented churches, groups, ministries, and networks — are unaffected by it. The constant stream of communications and counseling requests to my office by victims of authoritarian abuse demonstrate the validity of these assertions. The streams that are supposed to make glad the City of God (the church Jesus is building) [Ps. 46:4] have been polluted by it and instead made the Church sad. Vast portions of the Body of Christ reel in the downward spiritual spiral of witchcraft! It's almost as if the events initiated by the sounding of the Third Angel's trumpet of Revelation 8:10,11, wherein a great star named Wormwood — "fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters....and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died (spiritually) from the waters, because they were made bitter" — has some latent application.

What is the answer? I believe the answer is inherent in a prophetic word the Lord gave me in July 2004. It tenders the key that unlocks the chains of bondage in which God's people who are called to be "Sons of God" as opposed to "slaves of men." The false teaching of illegitimate authoritarianism has brought curses upon the Body of Christ that must be reversed in order for the people of God to possess their inheritance. This past week the Lord dropped this phrase into my spirit, "Poised to Possess!" I believe the Spirit is saying the Church is "poised to possess" the Promise Land, but like the Israelites, they must be delivered out of the tyranny of spiritual Pharaohs that are holding them in bondage in order to possess it. The Body of Christ at large, and to some degree the Church of Florida more so than any other, is in serious crisis! Yet, sadly the majority of believers are thoroughly brainwashed and thus hoodwinked to the horrific state of affairs that pervades the Church.

As I write, my spirit is exceedingly sorrowful and grieved. But I have been at this prophetic thing long enough to know that it is not really me that is sorrowful and grieved, but rather God. Really, when you stop and think about it, what is it to me? Why would I, as just another person, care about these matters? No, I'm seeing and sensing what God sees and senses. Prophets are "seers." They see things; often things others do not or cannot see, at that time. Oftentimes others will not see the things a prophet sees until like Elisha with his servant, the prophet prays that God open the eyes of the blind so that they can see what he sees. But prophets are also "sensers" they sense things that others do not sense — often the heart or feelings of God (yes, God has feelings). I know without any equivocation that what I am seeing and feeling in my spirit is what God sees and is feeling. This is not a Steven thing, this is a Spirit thing!

One of the objectives of the Spirit of the Lord and anointing that was upon Him, which is likewise the anointing under which every true minister on His behalf operates, Jesus stated was/is to "set the captives free" (Lk. 4:18,19). The Holy Spirit commanded through the Apostle Paul, "It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject AGAIN to a YOKE OF SLAVERY" (Gal. 5:1)! Jesus declared, "He whom the Son sets free is FREE indeed" (Jn. 8:36)! He also said that true disciples of His, who abide in His Word, will be SET FREE by the Truth that they KNOW (Jn. 8:31,32)! It is clear from just a few snippets of Scripture such as these and the preponderance of Old Testament chronicles concerning the people of God as well that God is intensely desirous of His people being FREE of ALL kinds of bondage, no matter what it may be! GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE FREE! Free to be HIS! He is a jealous God who, above all else, wants us to be free to belong to Him, and Him alone!

Satan himself, the original rebel and defector from God, is the master-taskmaster! He is the arch-megalomaniac who is absolutely possessed with the altogether foolish figment of conquering and controlling God's entire Creation, and enslaving the crown jewel of that Creation — mankind. Yet, the most succinct expression by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God of the purpose of the Son of God's manifestation and visitation is "that He might DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL" (1 Jn. 3:8). Essentially, "the works of the devil" are invisible chains of captivity to the rebellion against God that the devil himself originated. God wants you free from his bondage.

My spirit cries out to the Body of Christ today: BE FREE FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF SATAN AND SIN, INCLUDING THE SIN OF IDOLATRY AND SPIRITUAL ADULTERY! I implore you to hear the voice of the Lord crying out in the wilderness today! Pray and ask God if you have sinned and brought a curse upon your life by entering into unauthorized covenants.

Father, I pray now, in the name of Your Son, whom you sent to set the captives free, that you open the eyes of your people, to see the yoke of bondage that they have been under, and that you set them free from it today! I give you praise, honor, and glory, for hearing my prayer and doing it! Amen!

After reading this prophetic word, if you have not already read my book, Charismatic Captivation, I strongly urge you to order your copy today and read it, in order to be set free from "the yoke of slavery" to illegitimate human mediators. You may read more about the book and order it from our website at: http://www.slm.org/pubs/index.html. On the left side of this page are also books by other authors among the recommended reading list for victims or suspected victims of spiritual abuse that you can order through our affiliation with Amazon.Com.

The Curse of Unauthorized Covenants
By Steven Lambert, ThD (7/7/04)

One of the last books Derek Prince authored prior to his recent death was Blessings and Curses (Revised version, 2003; Chosen Books, Grand Rapids Michigan).

It has been well-documented how that in the 1970s Prince had been one of the originators of what became known as the Discipleship or Shepherding Movement. To his credit, however, when the doctrines associated with that movement were challenged by numerous prominent church leaders, the highly-respected Bible teacher was the first to publicly acknowledge that the teachings were erroneous, recant them, repent, and ask fellow believers for forgiveness from the spiritual harm he had been instrumental in wreaking upon the Body of Christ.

In Blessings and Curses (p. 46) [emphasis and bracketed comments added], Prince writes:

In Exodus 23:32-33 God warned Israel about the idolatrous nations whose land they were about to enter: "Do not make a COVENANT with them or with their gods...The worship of their gods will CERTAINLY be a SNARE to YOU." If you make a solemn agreement with people who are under the power of evil forces, you come under that same power.... As Christians, we are all in a covenant relationship with the Lord and the ONLY other valid covenant is that of marriage between a husband and wife. Covenants are very powerful, and to enter into a covenant relationship on any other basis but these can be extremely dangerous. If it is a scriptural covenant [which the author states are only those between a believer and the Lord, and between a husband and wife], its effect will be a blessing. But, if it is unscriptural, its effect will be a CURSE. Solomon offers an urgent word of counsel in Proverbs 6:4-5 to anyone who has made a pledge or vow binding them to an evil ASSOCIATION:
Allow no sleep to your eyes,
No slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
Like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
What you have said with your own lips [unscriptural/unauthorized pledges, oaths, covenants] only YOU can unsay. At the same time, get rid of any articles associated with the ungodly covenant. It is best to do this in the presence of Christian witnesses who can support you with their faith.

It is clear in Scripture that human covenants, pledges, and oaths other than the only two that are authorized by Scripture (marriage and God's with believers) subject the participating parties to curses that bear the potential for great harm and grave danger.

Contrary to the adage quoted even by occultists, Jesus did not teach that the truth itself will automatically set you free. Rather, He taught that it was the truth that we KNOW — the truth that lives (abides) in us and that we live in — that will set us free (cf, John 8:31,32). Indeed, the Word of God is literally filled with Kingdom Truths that bear unfettered power to liberate all who will accept and apply them to their lives, yet that glorious result cannot occur until we first KNOW those Truths. It is incumbent upon every believer who comes into this knowledge and understanding regarding illegitimate covenants to immediately repent and renounce every such improper covenant, and replace it with a confession of the two appropriate covenants, in order to "free yourself" from the "hand of the hunter" and "the snare of the fowler" — for improper covenants make us captives to the hunter and make our lives ensnared by the fowler, (Satan) who has the authority to fowl everything in our lives that is unprotected as the result of our removing ourselves from the protective covering of God through improper spiritual covenants and associations made with humans, which produce enslavement (Rom. 6:16).

Ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men, as postulated by the erroneous Shepherding doctrines, have brought the State of Florida under a curse — from the Southeast coast to the Northeast extremities of the panhandle. Let every preacher and believer first "free" his or her self from these covenants of enslavement and the curses they bring upon the participants, then preach, proclaim, and declare the message of freedom and liberty to fellow believers, and thereby deliver ourselves and the church of Florida that Jesus is building from the scourge of the curse!

When the scourge of this self-imposed curse is finally removed, we will begin to see God's hand of favor and approval released upon the church of Florida, and the fulfillment of the many prophesies predicting an unprecedented outpouring of the Spirit and God's Glory upon the coastlines of the State![end]

The following is an excerpted section from Chapter Two, The Movement Goes Underground, from my book, Charismatic Captivation, first published in 1996, which proffered back then more warnings concerning the dangers of unauthorized and unscriptural "covenant relationships," and traces the roots of the concept to the Discpleship/Sheperding controversy that emerged in the mid-1970s.

However, what has transpired over the course of time is that in order to avoid the adverse effects of controversy, the majority of Discipleship proponents and practitioners have gone "underground," so to speak, employing less overt and less conspicuous methods and means of propagation, cloaking and camouflaging their operations behind more subtle and euphemistic, cryptic language.

For example, the extreme concepts initially referred to as concepts of "pastoring" are now termed "shepherding" principles. To give it a more sophisticated and sanctimonious ring, the obsequious relationship between the subjugated (the sheep) and their subjugator (the shepherd) now is called "covenant relationships." These "relationships" (if you accept that appellation) in many groups espousing Discipleship/Shepherdship/Covenant doctrines and employing variations of the practices advocated under that teaching are actually codified in the form of a "Covenant Agreement" signed by the subjugated in which the subjugated pledges his eternal oath of allegiance and unquestioned obedience and obeisance, along with his financial support, of course, to his "shepherd." Usually, this "covenant" requirement is a matter which is not addressed openly in the public meetings, but is introduced "in private" to attendees who have been around long enough to have become fully indoctrinated with the group's ways and teachings, and to have become psychologically dependent on the group (more on this and other psychological mechanisms employed by Discipleship groups later).

Allow me to say in passing that to me, oaths such as these bear little dissimilarity to the secret oaths and pledges required of initiates into secret societies such as the Free Masons, Ku Klux Klan, and the La Cosa Nostra (Italian Mafia), which essentially bind the inductee to that group for life, or in other words, "Til death do us part." In fact, it has been my experience in dealing with hundreds of people in deliverance from demonic powers that the pledge taken by inductees into these secret societies is precisely the same in terms of the spiritual impact it induces as those taken by members of Discipleship/Shepherding/Covenant cults (as we shall discuss later, this is precisely what these groups are cults). A plethora of spirits of bondage, witchcraft, and idolatry saunter right through the door willfully opened by the person who enters into such demonic "covenants" of allegiance to men. Additionally, terribly debilitating and subversive satanic soul-ties are formed with the individuals with whom they have "covenanted." But, in actuality, the spiritual dynamic that is being instigated in the unseen spiritual realm when a person "covenants" with another human being in this manner, agreeing to subject himself to a mere human rather than unto the Lord Jesus Christ, is a pact of idolatry, because, spiritually speaking, wittingly or unwittingly, the subjugant has in essence pledged to submit his human will to his subjugator. In effect, the subjugant has just become the willing slave of his subjugator, for the Spirit says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are SLAVES of the one whom you obey" (Rom. 6:16).

The ultimate result of such a "pax idolatrus" is that that person has in actuality made the pact, not with that leader, but with demons, for in reality there is no such a thing as an idol, but the idolatrous homage rendered unto "idols," whether they be human or inanimate is "sacrifice to demons, and not to God" (1 Cor. 10:19-22). In other words, anyone who makes a spiritual covenant with anyone other than God, covenants with demons, whether they intend to or not, for "You cannot drink the cup of (fellowship with) the Lord and the cup of (fellowship with) demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (Ibid, v. 21, parenthesis added by author). If you do so covenant and so partake of fellowship with idols (other gods), or demons, you "provoke the Lord to jealousy" (Ibid, v. 22). Thus, in actuality this "covenanting" business and paying homage to human leaders is tantamount to pagan demon worship. The Bible explicitly constrains us against making such "covenants" with anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It specifically commands, "Do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor. 7:23).

Dear Friend, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of ungodly human covenants of improper submission to men such as what are addressed in this word, I urge you to "Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids" until you "FREE YOURSELF, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler" by renouncing all such ungodly covenants and thereby break the self-imposed bondages and curses over your life. Repeat the following simple prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, my eyes have been opened to the error of these improper covenants I have made with men in ignorance, and sense the inner conviction of the Spirit regarding them. I ask you to forgive me of my sin and error. I want to FREE MYSELF from the witchcraft resulting from those false oaths, pledges, and covenants right now. So, in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Name above every name, I now renounce those covenants I made and demand by the Spirit of the Lord that the illegitimate yoke of slavery that has been upon me now lift off of me! I am now free of all false burdens and responsibilities, and free to serve YOU as my Lord. Thank you, Jesus!

[Original Post Date on Prophetic Perspective E-zine: 11/19/2005]

The Purview of Apostolic Authority

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Editorial Note: Recently I received an email from a subscriber who was asking me for answers to some questions he had concerning some troubling issues related to the nascent apostolic renewal. It was not until I was finishing the last paragraph of my response that I heard the Spirit tell me that I needed to post my answer, because it would also help others who have had similar thoughts and questions. Just bear in mind as you read my response, that this is not intended to be a theological treatise or comprehensive exposition on the matter of the apostolic or even this aspect of it, but rather I offer it to you as just one tiny little patch of the quilt the Spirit is weaving on the matter at this time in the Church..."line upon line, precept upon precept, a little here, a little there."

Question: I hear a lot concerning "apostolic authority." What does apostolic authority mean? I have known apostles who march into churches and tell the pastor he has to submit to them because of apostolic authority or they will ask the pastor, who is your apostle? Does the apostle have authority over the pastor in the local church? Help!!

Reply:
I will try to give you a relatively succinct answer to a rather complex matter, without fleshing it out much. I will answer the first question in what follows. The last question, which is the essence of what you are asking, I will answer directly first: No, an apostle does not have authority over the leadership of local churches of which he is not a part and is not esteemed as the "set man" of that assembly merely by virtue of some perceived "authority" inherent in the title of "Apostle." Indeed, a true God-anointed, God-appointed, Spirit-trained apostle would never even THINK of such a thing.

Unfortunately, the kind of attitudes you describe represent what "Apostolic Authority" means to many misinformed and misguided people. A major problem in dealing with the matter of local church government, on the backdrop of the renewed awareness concerning Fivefold Ministry and the restoration of the Apostolic and Prophetic offices, in particular, is that while they are related, they are not the same, and the terminology we have been using regarding ministry offices or positions in the church has been contrary to Scripture.

Namely, in the last hundred years or so, predominantly, the Church has been using the term "Pastor" to refer to the chief or top leader in the local church, despite the fact that government, i.e., "ruling," is not included in the office of the pastor, per se, as delineated in Scripture. The Bible is clear that "elders...rule" (1 Tim. 5:17, et al.). The local church is to be governed by a presbytery of elders (plural). However, here again most local churches have had that wrong as well, as to who elders are, especially denominational churches. According to the preponderance of Scripture, the eldership of a local church should be comprised of those who God has appointed to Fivefold Ministry Offices (Eph. 4:11), which appointment is attested by the anointing (spiritual gifting) inherent in those offices. And, among the Fivefold Ministry Office, those functioning in the apostolic, prophetic, and teaching should be regarded as preeminent in the government of the church (1 Cor. 12:28).

This picture becomes clear when the entire mosaic of Scripture is put together rightly ("rightly dividing the Word of Truth" [2 Tim. 2:15]), which is too complex and expansive of a matter for us to deal with here, but I will offer the following. Jesus chose Twelve of His disciples, and appointed (named) them "Apostles" (Mat. 10:1-5). These Apostles of the Lamb were His chief delegates, surrogates, or representatives in the Early Church following Jesus' ascension. This set the precedent of Apostolic Appointment.

Additionally, 1 Cor. 12:28 clearly states the order of preeminence of ministerial authority and government in the local church: "And God as set in the CHURCH, FIRST Apostles, SECOND Prophets, THIRD teachers...." Notice that the pastoral office is not mentioned in this verse, per se. In fact the word "pastor" (poimen) only occurs once in the entire N.T., which is in Ephesians 4:11. So, using Scripture as the sole precedent and paradigm (and this order is clearly further corroborated throughout the N.T.), the office of apostle is unequivocally the preeminent ministry office, functionally speaking, with prophets and teachers respectively following next in succession. The Greek word in this verse translated "first" is the word "proton," which connotes, first in time, first in order, first in rank, first in function, first in priority. (Now, while I fully realize that such teaching is controversial to those unfamiliar with it, exegetical development of these concepts is simply beyond the parameters of this article. Though, they are developed in several of my books and will be addressed further in forthcoming books.)

Now, the problem is, since the church fell into apostasy in the third and fourth centuries, it has not been recognizing these offices, and erroneous cessation theories purporting that the apostolic and prophetic offices ceased with the death of the Apostles of the Lamb have been prevalent, especially in mainline denominational doctrine. And then, somewhere along the line, primarily, as I said, within the last hundred years or so, local churches began calling the chief minister "the pastor," even though that office, according to Scripture, does not entail government, per se.

But, the Scriptural pattern is that there is a "set man" (Num. 27:15-23) whom God recognizes and has appointed as the chief leader or elder in a local church. Functionally, this person is actually a "local apostle," according to the Scriptural pattern, and should possess and demonstrate the giftings or anointing of an apostle, which are the entire range of the Fivefold Ministry offices. This man is esteemed by the other elders as a "chief among equals," as was Peter among the Twelve, as was James in the Jerusalem Church and as the presiding elder at the Jerusalem Council (Ac. 15), as was John over the churches of Asia Minor in the latter part of his ministry, and as was Paul over the churches he founded, or to whom he became the spiritual father, for example.

However, "Apostolic Authority" is intrinsically parochial; that is to say, limited, to the particular local church(es) where God has established the apostle relationally—usually churches which they have had a part in founding, or existing churches that voluntarily have placed themselves under the leadership of an apostle who has become a "spiritual father" to those people and its leadership. Thus, "Apostolic Authority" is decidedly not some sort of automatic universal authority inuring to an apostle by virtue of the title of apostle. Morever, legitimate "Apostolic Authority" is never organizational, but rather is always relational. And it is vital to remember that all relationships among Fivefold Ministers are horizontal, not vertical. All Fivefold Ministers are peers with different functions, giftings, anointings, and callings. None is more important than another, or superior or inferior to another.

The church is the family extended and the family is the church in miniscule; thus, the principles of governance are the same for both (cf, Eph. 5:22-33). The family has ONE head — the husband/father (male). While a man is the husband/father of his OWN HOUSEHOLD, his authority is limited to that one household; his title/office of husband/father does not mean that he is the husband/father of any other household, and indeed he would be a trespasser and unlawful intruder if he tried to assert his husband/father authority over any other household. In fact, God's Word expressly addressed that scenario through the writings of the Apostle Paul, dealing with the unlawful actions of deceived deceivers who were attempting to do that very thing in the Early Church:

For among them are those who worm their way into homes {households, NAS} and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually-dwarfed women, loaded down with [the burden of their] sins, [and easily] swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses. (2 Tim. 3:6; AB)

So, in the circumstance today in the local churches, regardless of what term is used to refer to him, the local church has a "set man" who presides as the chief leader, rightly so, because he has been so anointed and "set in" to that place of authority by God. Government and leadership of the local church is not a matter of titles, ascendancy, and authority, but of function, servitude, and esteem.

When multiple Fivefold ministers are laboring together to provide pilotage (leadership) to a local church, the proper Spirit-inspired attitude should be to regard one another as co-equals ministerially and functionally, though there is one among them who is esteemed as being the "leader of the leaders," a la James in Jerusalem. Their goal as leaders should be to ascertain the "consensus of the Spirit"; in other words, to reach unanimity based on what the Spirit is speaking to them individually yet collectively. "It seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit...." "WE have the mind of Christ." Christ reveals His full "mind," counsel, to a plurality of elders, not a solitary leader. The notion that God speaks the entire vision and direction for a church to a single "vision-holder" is nonsense, unbiblical, and the height of hubris. I wouldn't follow someone across the street who said he had no need for the counsel and consensus of other leaders. Apostleship is anything but autocracy.

Governmental AUTHORITY is limited to the role of leadership of the local church, and is not personal authority (i.e., authority over people), but authority to provide spiritual impartation as well as "pilotage" to the church and its affairs. Beyond the local church, there is no "authority" among ministers — Jesus told the apostles they were "all on the same level as brothers" (Mat. 23:8, LB), meaning they were co-equals. Thus, there is no ascending authority structure, or rank system, or "chain-of-command" among Fivefold Ministers, that is to say, no one of the ministry offices has authority or ascendancy over another, as purported by the erroneous concept of "positional authority.") In other words, the premise is not that apostles are over prophets, prophets over evangelists, and so on, as if there were "rank" inherent in the the Fivefold Ministry Offices. That's just not the way it works.

Though, clearly, as mentioned earlier, there is a preeminence among the Fivefold Ministry Gifts in terms of FUNCTION and ROLE — its governmental role, in particular. Governmentally and functionally speaking, the apostolic function is first, or preeminent, followed by the prophetic, and then the teaching function (1 Cor. 12:28). Among those functioning in the Fivefold Ministry offices, there is to be no envy, competition, or jockeying for position, but a faithful and willing subjection to the Scripturally-revealed Kingdom order. The commanders of God's Army understand authority, march in line, do not deviate from their assigned lanes of function, and do not break ranks (Joel 2:7,8).

Nevertheless, there is, however, a deference, among Fivefold Ministers that is based entirely on earned ESTEEM, not any perceived or ostensible "authority." Such esteem and deference toward proven and attested senior ministers, wherein believers, including ministers, esteem highly certain other ministers for the spiritual giftings, wisdom, leadership acumen, they demonstrate, is proper, appropriate, and Scriptural:

"But we request of you brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction (lit., admonition, warning, correction) and that you ESTEEM THEM HIGHLY IN LOVE because of their work."

I hope this helps somewhat to answer your questions.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 10/08/2003]

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Tricks Only; No Treats!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:32:00 +0000

For more than half a century the debate has continued in American churches regarding if it is right or wrong for believers to participate in Halloween. The tragedy of the enduring controversy, however, is that the issues of overriding importance regarding Halloween are overlooked in the heat of the debate and almost never discussed even among anti-Halloween believers. Those oft forgotten issues are the focus of this post.

A plethora of pages debating the origins of Halloween, its beneficence or maleficence, and advocating for or against the observance of Halloween and its associated practices populate the Internet. All of that has its place, I suppose, though my experience is that people are going to basically believe what they want to believe about the matter, especially those intent on personal participation in Halloween festivities. Relative few are those who are convinced by the evidence and consequently change their position. But, to me, the tragedy of all the controversy is the issues that are almost never discussed even among anti-Halloween believers. This post is not a rehash of all the pros and cons of Halloween, but rather a discussion of the oft forgotten issues of overriding importance regarding "All Hallows Eve."

As we begin this discussion, I want to make it clear that I'm really not addressing my comments to unbelievers or those who claim to be agnostics or atheists, but rather to believers. My goal here is not to debate the matter with unbelievers, but rather to appeal to believers to consider some matters rarely taken into account.

There are thousands of documents on the Internet espousing every possible perspective concerning Halloween, so it is not within the scope of this post to merely recite all of the facts and information available about it. But, if you are interested in a primer on Halloween from a Christian perspective one of the great sources for information regarding Halloween for believers available on the net is at:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/halloween.html.

Halloween as it has evolved to what it is in this country is largely a post-WWII, "boomers" phenomenon. In fact, in the early years of the genesis of our nation, there were laws prohibiting the practice of Halloween because the early founders and political, social, intellectual, and religious leaders wanted to ensure that there was no proliferation in the new republic during its formative years of "the influences of the east" that had been so injurious and detrimental sociologically in the "old country." The observance of Halloween with its macabre and occult practices only began gaining traction following WWII as the troops came home from the various eastern theaters in which they had been deployed.

Whatever Halloween has been in the past, for many participants on the extreme end of the spectrum it has evolved now into a day of hedonism, debauchery, and unrestrained revelry; in essence a nationalized Mardi Gras. Some of the benumbing events in the news in last couple of weeks leading up to this year's Halloween, such as those occurring in San Francisco, in which demon-possessed and deranged debauchery-costumed sodomists and gomorrhists invaded a Catholic Mass to partake of the Holy Eucharist sacrament, and other incidents elsewhere, testify to that. Although, happily there are an increasing number of communities across America who have taken a stand against the diabolical side of Halloween and have instituted limitations on Halloween practices for the sake of protecting and looking out for the best interests of their children. Hopefully that trend will continue and expand.

There is nothing merely accidental or coincidental about the fact that Godless, hedonistic "Hollywood" has over the years become inextricably linked with Halloween. Satan has played Hollywood and other distribution media like a fiddle in using entertainment and the arts to condition children to accept Satan as being a good and benevolent person, and that all the things associated with his kingdom are good -- calling evil good and good evil. People become "bewitched" as a result of their fascination with the elements of darkness and of that which is "hidden," i.e., the occult. The Harry Potter series is another sterling example of Satan's handiwork in indoctrinating children and preparing them for his final coup de gras of accepting the Antichrist as the ultimate super-hero who will suddenly emerge out of nowhere on the international scene to save the world from destruction and (they believe) from those evil "Christians" who have been the source of so much damage worldwide and throughout human history.

All this is part of Satan's scheme to deceive people concerning the Antichrist and the establishment of his kingdom on the earth, especially the end time generation. One of Satan's elementary yet most effective "tricks" is to brainwash people into believing that everything associated with his kingdom is benign, harmless, or only mythical. "It won't hurt you, it's just play and pretend, it's not real." Artists have long caricatured him as a fantastical part animal, part human, horned, cloven-hoofed creature, with a long tail and a goatee, wearing red pajamas, and wielding a tri-tined pitchfork (trident). No reasonable and reasoning person in their right mind could possibly place credence in the existence of such a creature if that is what he looks like, thus such a creature could only be a myth. This, along with a multiplicity of schemes of deception Satan is orchestrating in these last days to mask the existence and operations of his demonic cohorts on the earth and to brainwash the extant generations into accepting demons as friendly and benevolent beings, is all part and parcel of Satan's ancient plan to deceive the unbelieving of the world into receiving the Antichrist whom he himself incarnates in his last-gasp effort to seize control of the world (2 Thes. 2:1-12).

The Bible warns against being taken captive through the vain philosophies of man, the world, rather than according to the principles of Christ and the Kingdom of God: "Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ" (Col. 2:8). Capturing people's minds is the essence of Satan's master-plan.

The Spirit also admonishes not to be ignorant of the "schemes (strategies) of the devil" (2 Cor. 2:11). We are also told that the result that will inure unto those who continue to trifle with and/or buy into Satan's strategies and schemes of deception, will be "strong delusion" or a "deluding influence" that God Himself actually sends upon those who refuse to separate themselves from and participation in Satan's Antichrist and anti-God plans and purposes (2 Thes. 2:1-12). Finally, after so much divine grace, mercy, and longsuffering has been extended, God will finally give the defiantly unbelieving over to a reprobate mind and to believing the lie! That's the essence of Satan's ultimate plan.

Despite all the debate and controversy, including the plethora of documents on the Internet regarding its origins and its beneficence or maleficence, and advocating for or against the observance of Halloween and its associated practices, the preponderance of credible evidence comes down on the side that all the philosophies and theories, genesis, history, paraphernalia, accouterments associated with Halloween are predicated in the occult, Satanic, demonic, and "the kingdom of darkness" (Satan's kingdom), out of which the Word of God specifically states that the believer has been translated. Certainly there is no Scriptural support for the observance of Halloween since there is nothing in the Bible about it, but rather only numerous admonitions against such pagan practices. Even the colors associated with Halloween are the unmistakable signature of Satan, whose colors (according to ancient traditions of pagans, occultists, and devil worshipers) are black, red, and orange.

On and on we could go delineating the long litany of reasons opponents often cite in opposition of the observance of Halloween and participation in its satanically-inspired and -associated practices. But for most bona fide Born Again believers of any tenure at all, all this is to varying degrees "old-hat," and they have some measure of awareness, if nothing more than generally and cursorily, of the pros and cons that have been out there for a number of decades. Nothing new here, essentially, and most believers have already drawn their conclusions one way or another.

The focus of this post is not the rehashing of the usual arguments regarding the origins of Halloween practices, nor to further debate the controversy of whether or not Christians and children of Christians should participate in the traditional revelry of Halloween or whether participation in an alternative "festival" provided by a church or other entity is a good option. All that to me is really a no-brainer and not worthy of the effort and energy required to write about it all. As I say, most informed bona fide believers have already made their decision in that regard.

Although, I will throw in at no additional charge my observation that Scripture admonishes in several places not to even make mention of or acknowledge the false gods of and practices of pagans and worshipers of false gods. Additionally, believers are told by God in His Word not to elevate one day above another, for every day is alike to the Lord and is the day that He has made, and thus we are to rejoice and be glad in each and every one, because it has been made by God. All the festivals of the Old Covenant were made obsolete, ineffectual, unnecessary, and void by virtue of having been fulfilled in and by Christ with His life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. Jesus also stated categorically that the observance of the traditions of men invalidate the Word of God (Truth) in the life of the person who observes them. While the Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Spirit adjured believers not to participate in the evil deeds of darkness but rather expose them, and to separate themselves from the world and their evil practices, and come out from among them, for there is no partnership of righteousness and wickedness, believers with unbelievers, no communion or cohabitation of light with darkness, no harmony between Christ and Satan, and no unity or union of God's temple with the temple of idols. Paul also said that if you drink the cup of demons you cannot also drink with effectualness the cup of the Lord, referring to the sacrament of Holy Communion. The Holy Spirit also warns against believers allowing themselves to be taken "captive through the philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

But, again, none of that is the focus of this post. Rather what I feel impelled by the Spirit to write about in this post is the effects participation in the macabre and demonic practices and revelry associated with Halloween engender due to the demonic incursion to which it opens participants and, by extension, their children. To me, as someone who has worked for more than three decades to deliver people from aberrant, abnormal, and improper behavior through the casting out of the unseen demonic forces behind it, I can testify with extensive firsthand knowledge of the adverse spiritual impact Halloween practices can have upon participants. This is the real, oft forgotten issue regarding Halloween.

The first myth that must be debunked is the prevalent notion that I hear all the time from counselees is that they never really took any of it serious or put any stock in all its demonic associations and connections with witchcraft and devil worship, and all that. Rather, they just considered it a game, kind of a form of entertainment or amusement. Their theory is that because of their attitudes about it all -- i.e., not taking it serious, and not doing it to invoke evil spirits or to worship Satan, etc. -- their participation in it therefore was benign; a "no harm, no foul," kind of thing. Well, that theory may sound good and right, but it is not at all how it works. The problem is that that theory is predicated on what would be right in a system where everything operated according to what was right and just. But, what people fail to understand is that Satan is the original outlaw and rebel. Satan vehemently defies everything that is right and just. He has no propensity whatever to do what is right, just, and proper. His rebelliousness exceeds all human imaginations of evil, wickedness, and lawlessness. The Hitlers of history, the most insane of megalomaniacs, could never in their wildest imaginations conjure up the diabolical schemes of wickedness Satan muses upon routinely.

By the Spirit, the Apostle Peter warned concerning the master of madness, "Your Adversary, the devil, roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Since he was evicted from his glorious status and estate in heaven, and cast down to the earth as punishment for his utter perdition and insurgency against God, Satan has been relentlessly roaming throughout the earth in search of every human-being he can possibly deceive and seduce into alliance with him and his supremely dastardly scheme of rebellion and revolt against God and his eternal plans.

Bottom-line is: SATAN DOES NOT PLAY FAIR! I know that is a shock to many people's system, but it is the undeniable, indisputable fact!

So, it matters not whether in one's participation with the deeds of darkness, it was with subscription to or rejection of the beliefs and demons behind the practices, the door of demonic incursion was opened none the less. That is the "tricks" that Satan hands out to unsuspecting victims, not just on one day of the year, but every day, and the "treats" he dispenses are nothing but an illusion, dirt painted gold.

We are admonished in Scripture, "Give no place to the devil." The devil can go no where, enter no place, where he has not been given permission, whether intentionally and deliberately with knowledge or inadvertently and unwittingly, whether proactively or by passivity. It makes no difference. Satan and his demonic cohorts always enter through open doors, either those opened by the host individual themselves, or by the ancestry of the individual. One of the worst problems with all that, especially in the context of our topic, is that many people who are now parents unknowingly opened their children up to demonic influence by their participation in Halloween practices and revelry when they were a child and then passed those influences on to their children.

A parent's worst nightmare! But it happens all the time. A great percentage of the demons that need to be cast out of people who are being troubled by demons are those that are "inherited," that is, passed on from one generation to another. This to me is the ultimate reason why demonized people should come forth and be willing to repent of whatever it is that is allowing demons to have a place in their life, and seek real deliverance from the demons operating in their lives -- to ensure that their CHILDREN and their CHILDREN'S CHILDREN are not affected by demonic influence. The overwhelming desire of every loving parent should be to see the captives set free, especially when the captives are their own children, and by extension, their entire posterity.

Though polemic preaching about such things as judgment from God is far from vogue today in the atmosphere prevailing in much of the church which requires preaching be candy-coated and of the "easy-listening" variety, there is a strong and sobering admonition from the Savior Himself applicable to all those who would so casually expose young and innocent children to the vile evils and stark wickedness of the "kingdom of darkness," especially those of the households of the believing:

"but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!" (Mat. 18:6,7)

Just a few of the evil influences associated with Halloween: are death; fear of death or fright, and therefore all manner of fear, because all fear is rooted in the fear of death; fascination with "the deeds of darkness," meaning all the things associated with darkness (occult, hidden); fascination with the macabre such as vampires (blood, death, defilement, damnation, sadism and abominable sexual acts); fascination with fantasy (play world, never-never land, Disney World, make-believe, living a fantasy, thespianism, play-acting, no reality, denial of reality and truth [unbelief, agnosticism, atheism]). All these involvements can potentially lead to numerous psychological disorders such as: neurosis, psychosis, DID (formerly, MPD), schizothymia, schizophrenia, and others. They are also a doorway to involvement in a multiplicity of forms of divination, sorcery, witchcraft, necromancy, familiar spirits.

That's only the beginning, there are so many more that space and time simply won't allow. And, remember, none of what I have written is theory, rather it has been proven out in deliverance counseling sessions and deliverance ministry I have personally conducted in private sessions and public meetings. Some of the things I experienced in deliverances would be incredible and unnerving to most people.

In the vein of our topic, I remember one woman to whom I ministered deliverance and all the demons that came out of her that were associated with Halloween. One of the first spirits the Lord had me to call out of her was a spirit of harlotry, which the Lord showed me by the Spirit had entered her when her mother had her to masquerade on Halloween when she was only ten years old as Marilyn Monroe who her mother thought she looked like and wanted her to grow up to be like to gain fame and fortune. Frequently this now grown woman of thirty years old, who was genuinely Born Again and even Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, would be taken over by this spirit of harlotry during her normal course of life and her entire body, her gestures and body language would dramatically change to mimic a seductress, her manner of speech and voice would also totally change and she would speak exactly like Marilyn Monroe when Betty Jean was "being" Marilyn Monroe. I'm telling you, no impersonator ever sounded so perfectly like Marilyn Monroe, and none could, unless, like her, they were giving themselves over to a familiar spirit like the one that operated through Marilyn Monroe that was behind her supernatural seduction. But, what was so strange was that when I called that spirit out and told it it must leave her now, first it began crying, then when I told it I didn't feel sorry for it and it had to go, it then began its seduction trying to seduce me. Then when I told it that was not going to work and COMMANDED it to LEAVE NOW, it let out one of the loudest and most blood-curdling ROARS I've ever heard...out of this petite, barely five-foot, 110 pound, blue-eyed, blond-haired, young woman, no bigger than a minute, as they say. It was so loud and eery sounding that another Christian couple part of my ministry team who were in another room on the other side of the some 4,000 square feet home we were ministering in said it was the eeriest and scary sound they'd ever heard and it made the hair stand straight up on the back of their necks.

In another deliverance session with this same woman a year or so later, when I was walking out of my office in our home to meet her and my wife in the living room where they had been waiting on me, the Holy Spirit said to me, "Take your Thesaurus with you." "My Thesaurus?" I asked in incredulity. "Yes, your Thesaurus," the Spirit answered. The long and the short of it is that as I prayed before ministering to her, the Lord said that today, the stronghold we would be casting out of her was the spirit of fear. As I began ministering to her, the Lord told me to open up the Thesaurus to "phobias," and discovered to my utter amazement that there were some 265 human phobias, or fears, identified and recognized by modern psychology. Then the Lord also told me that a great many of the fears this woman had had come in through years of bizarre Halloween practices at the insistence of her mother who herself had a strong spirit of harlotry, fascination with the macabre including with vampires, witches, warlocks, and deviant sex, and other kinds of associations with the kingdom of darkness. As the Lord identified the fears my deliveree had and I asked her if she had that fear, she would manifest with extreme body language and manifestations that reacted to the thing named. In the end, I cast out some 200 devils of fear from that same woman, and her life was forever revolutionized, as God demonstrated that truly, "GOD has not given us a SPIRIT of fear" (2 Tim. 1:7), but rather that fear is a SPIRIT, an evil spirit, sent by Satan.

Participation in such ungodly and worldly traditions as Halloween has the effect of invalidating the Word of God (Truth) in the lives of even those who have been genuinely Born Again, and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Born Again believers life, because one cannot drink the cup of demons and partake of the "delicacies" of the table of the devil, and contemporaneously drink the cup of the Lord and partake of the food on His table. Either make the tree and its fruit good, or make it bad, Jesus instructed, but it cannot be both simultaneously. With the Lord, there is no black mixed with white to make gray. Rather, it's either black or it's white. Period! You can call that polemic, but God calls it TRUTH!

Have you ever considered how confusing it is to children for an authority figure in whom all their security and trust is entrusted and ensconced to encourage or require them to dress up as and emulate people who have become caricatures, icons, or symbols of certain values and behavior, mostly evil and bad, one day of the year, and then teach and preach principles of character, morality, and integrity the other 364 days of the year? You know, it wasn't the kid's idea; he or she did not wake up on October 31st and say, "Mom, Dad, I'd like to dress up today like a vampire from Transylvania, or a witch, or a warlock, or an immoral Hollywood star, with a mask to conceal my real identity, so I can go out tonight after dark and scare and startle some people, and go knocking on the doors of strangers, saying, "Trick or Treat!" so that I can extort a bunch of candy and goodies from them under threat of mischief and vandalism if they refuse!" Kids know nothing about such tom-foolery until they are introduced to the whole concept of Halloween BY THEIR PARENTS!

Have you ever stopped to think how strange and bizarre some of the traditional practices of Halloween are? How about the one of having your children masquerade as someone who they are not (deception) in order to deceive complete strangers as to their real identity and sending them to those strangers' doors throughout your neighborhood (or a wider swath of the city or area you live in, today) to beg for food and treats? Something you would never even dream of doing any other time. Most would be mortified at just the prospect of sending one of their children next door to ask a neighbor who they KNEW to BORROW a cup of flour for a recipe they were cooking, as was fairly common still when I was a child. The whole practice of begging is not something Christians should be modeling for their children considering in light of such passages of Scripture as King David's testimony concerning the fact that in his life he'd never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread. Children, especially young children, become very confused when their parents have them to do things that are contradictory to their beliefs. Practically no mother in America would allow her children to eat food given them by some stranger out in public no matter how sweet, kind-hearted, and benign they appear to be, yet they allow their children to eat the "treats" handed out by complete strangers whose doors they've knocked on and posed as beggars. The whole scenario makes no sense! Even when you say, "Oh, it's only play; it's only a custom; it's not really real!"

Truth is: there is no GOOD reason to participate in Halloween celebrations and practices; certainly no Scriptural reason, since there is nothing in the Bible about Halloween, but rather only many admonitions against such practices.

Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:7-16)

If you have in the past participated in Halloween, whether before or after you accepted Christ, there is a strong possibility that you could greatly benefit from deliverance. That also applies to your children. I have ministered to hundreds of "boomers" who into their fifties and sixties still carry with them the effects of participation in Halloween as a child. There is no scriptural evidence that once demons gain entrance, they subsequently leave on their own without being driven out through deliverance. So, if demons ever entered, whether in your soul (mind, will, or emotions) or your body, if you are a Born Again believer, and your spirit, if you are not, then they are still there and affecting your life, and will continue to do so until they are cast out of you by a believer operating through the anointing of Jesus, the Deliverer.

I urge you to visit DeliveranceNow.Com to learn more about deliverance. It contains a lot of information about the matter as well as information about where you can obtain more information about deliverance.

Idolatry of Trusting in Riches

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:47:00 +0000

Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion. (Prv. 30:8)

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1)

This is the fourth of a five-part message contrasting what could be called, "The Poverty Gospel," against what some have called, "The Prosperity Gospel." In this part, we look at the "negativer" side of the coin, and focus on the deceitful characteristics of riches.

If you did not read, the previous posts, please do, in order to have the proper backdrop and foundation for the message in this post. Otherwise, you may draw erroneous conclusions from reading this post as a stand-alone article.

As I have been indicating in some previous posts, in many Kingdom-related matters, the difference between truth and error is excesses and extremes. Those excesses extremes can be at either end of the spectrum.

Such is the case with the real truth regarding the matter of prosperity and success versus whatever is the diametric opposite of that, which I suppose is poverty and failure. The real truth, that is, the Truth of the mind of God that is both concealed and revealed in Christ through the Spirit of Truth, lies somewhere between these opposing messages. The extremes on both sides are error and deception. We must be careful not to swerve too far to either side so as to fall into a spiritual ditch of error. There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers" (3 Jn. 2). But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. From God's perspective, true prosperity is commensurate with soul-prosperity, and not defined by the amount of mammon, or material things, we possess. Prosperity and success, and divine healing and health, taken to extremes and taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God: "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1).

(Please read the preface on the previous post for more on this aspect.)

Before I get to the topic of this post, I feel compelled to say I truly believe that this whole matter I am discussing in these posts are far from being a mere side-bar. I feel what I am about to say is of a prophetic nature. I believe it is a critical Kingdom Matter that the Church must turn its attention to in order to be delivered from the dastardly and destructive spirit of mammon that now pervades the Church. Many individuals in the Church are obsessed with the spirit of materialism, and if they continue in their ways and in giving place to the devil, what is an obsession now, will continue to escalate and take more and more ground in their heart until materialism, the love of money, will totally possess them. Some who were once bona fide believers and members of the Body of Christ, have become apostate in their heart having yielded to the allure of purely material "wealth," and as a result are already possessed by the spirit of mammon. I believe the judgment that MUST begin with the household of God has begun, and will continue in the form of the economic collapse America and the nations of the world are facing. But, as I have written in so many words in so many of my writings, this judgment that God is bringing upon the Church precedent to the judgment He shall bring upon the world is a judgment of purification and refinement. It is a corrective and reproving judgment to purify the Lamb's Wife for the imminent return of Christ to claim His Betrothed as His Eternal Bride and Helpmate suitable to partner with Him in the judgment of the nations in the Day of His Fierce Wrath.

What I see is that there is two sides of this coin regarding this matter of God's provision for us. The focus of the previous post was what the Word of God tells us about God's desire to prosper and abundantly bless His people. Like Abraham, he has promised to not only bless us, but also make us a blessing. In this and the next post, my focus will be the abundance of Scripture that counterbalance the "prosperity" side of the same coin.

The Parable of the Sower (see, Mark 4:1-20), according to what Jesus Himself said about it, could be aptly called "The Paramount Parable." When His disciples asked Him to explain it to them, He responded, as He did on several other occasions, with seeming frustration at their spiritual dullness, saying, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?" Jesus also indicated that this parable contained the key to understanding the "Mystery of the Kingdom." That is the title of a book I wrote and published in 1984 in which I explained what the Lord showed me concerning the meaning of this Paramount Parable and the "secrets" it unveils of how to bear Kingdom Fruit as well as "hidden" principles of how the Kingdom of God operates here on Earth. The rest of this post is taken from that book. Click here to read more about the book, which is available in both e-book and print versions.

Mark 4:7,18,19
7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.
18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
19 and the worries of the word, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Jesus identified in the Parable of the Sower four different categories of hearers, all of whom heard the Word, though only one responded properly and became doers of the Word, thereby producing Kingdom Fruit in their lives. As Jesus said, the Seed of the Word of God was sown on this category of hearers, which means they heard the Word, but there were also thorns growing in their lives along with the Word that eventually choked out the Seed, and thus it "yielded no crop" -- that is, it produced no Kingdom Fruit in the lives of these hearers. In His explanation to the disciples, Jesus indicated these thorns were "thorns of worldliness," and identified them as being, 1) the worries of the world, 2) the deceitfulness of riches, and 3) the desires for other things. He said these thorns of worldliness entered into these believers' lives, and choked out the Seed which was sown into their lives by the Sower (Fivefold Ministers) as the two grew together in the soil of their hearts, and prevented the Word from becoming fruitful. In the previous post we began examining one of those thorns of worldliness -- "the deceitfulness of riches." I continue that discussion by addressing the Idolatry of Trusting in Riches, taken from the book, The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Idolatry of Trusting in Riches
God says He is a "jealous God," and that we are to have no other gods before Him, and that we are not to make or serve any idols (Ex. 20:1-5). An idol, or false god, is something you attribute undue homage and affection to, or something you trust in and place your faith in and look to, to deliver you, and to help you overcome the adversities of life, and to attain unto personal desires, ambitions, and aspirations.

By that definition, money is the false god of multitudes of people in this world. This has always been true, but never more so than it is in this last day in which we live, something which was explicitly prophesied by the Spirit, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, LOVERS OF MONEY..." (2 Tim. 3:1,2). Money, however, is such a vain thing in which to trust. God says, "He who trusts in riches will fall" (Pr. 11:28). Riches are only temporal, they do not last forever. They can be here one day and gone the next, as the following scriptures indicate:

For riches are not forever. (Pr. 27:24);

Do not worry yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth surely makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. (Pr. 23:4,5);

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to...fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God. (1 Tim. 6:17);

Let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. (Jas. 1:10,11);

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. (Jas. 5:1-3);

But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into this world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. (1 Tim. 6:6,7);

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Mat. 6:19)

Without realizing it, multitudes in the world today have made money their god. They trust in it to deliver them from every adversity of life, for personal validation and to give them a sense of dignity and rightness, to afford them prestige and preeminence, to garner for themselves the favor and deference society bestows upon the wealthy, and to provide them with a sense of security, satisfaction, and fulfillment. In a nutshell, people look to money and riches to give them the peace, happiness, contentment, and sense of general well-being to which people commonly aspire. It is in looking to money to supply all this, that people unconsciously make money their god, notwithstanding the adamant denials of most that they have done so in their own case.

But, it is Jehovah God who is the true Supplier of all these things, and He desires that people recognize Him as such. In fact, all these things can only be realized in their truest form through fellowship with God. To seek any other object or entity as a source of these things is idolatry, and is making a false god of that object or entity.

The love of money, or covetousness, which is idolatry, is a natural motivation of the carnal nature which is inherent within us all, however (Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5:19,20). In varying degrees, before we were saved and began renewing our minds according to the Word of God, we all trusted in money for all the things we are supposed to trust God to accomplish in our lives. Thus, most people commit their entire lives and energies in the quest to acquire more and more money, the more the better. They seem to think that the more diligent they are in the pursuit of it, the more favorable the false god of money will be to them. The more they have of it, the more it will deliver them from the adversities and tribulations of life, and fulfill the various yearnings of their heart. So they think.

How often have we all thought at one time or another in our lives, "If I can just get this one bill paid off, then I just know everything will be alright." Or, "If I can just get that new car," or "that new house," or whatever, "I just know everything will be fine, then." Or, "If I can just save up $10,000 in my savings account," or "make this one great stock purchase," or "buy this new business," or "get that new job," or "that promotion," or "that raise," -- "well, everything will be great then!"

That, my friend, like it or not, is IDOLATRY. It is placing a false trust in money. It is making money your god. It is trusting in riches, and in your own power to make wealth. But, even more than all that, such reasoning indicates you have been deceived by "the deceitfulness of riches!" The truth of the matter is that once you do get that one bill paid off, you only get more and even larger bills to contend with, and everything is still not "alright." Or, have you ever noticed, after you buy that new house or car, everything is still not "fine?" Or you save up that $10,000, or purchase those stocks, or buy that new business, or you land that new job, or get that promotion or raise in pay, and then everything is still far from being "great?" Instead you have even more problems. That’s the deceitfulness of riches; he who trusts in them is heading for a fall (Pr. 11:28).

You see, God does not want everything to be "alright" merely through the means of monetary gain and because of financial wealth. He does not want you to be trusting in money as your savior and deliverer. If you do, money is your master and god, not Him. God delights in the prosperity of His servants, but therein is the key: He wants our lives to be prosperous in every way, not through the self-glorifying means of self-achievement, but through serving Him, whereby all the glory for our prosperity is attributable to Him alone. He wants to be our total Source, our only Savior and Deliverer, our Master, and our very present Help in the time of trouble. He wants to be the object of our affection and trust.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:35:00 +0000

This is the third of a five-part message contrasting what could be called, "The Poverty Gospel," against what some have called, "The Prosperity Gospel." In this part, we look at the "negative" side of the coin, and focus on the deceitful characteristics of riches.

If you did not read, the previous posts, please do, in order to have the proper backdrop and foundation for the message in this post. Otherwise, you may draw erroneous conclusions from reading this post as a stand-alone article.

Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion. (Prv. 30:8)

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1)

As I have been indicating in some previous posts, in many Kingdom-related matters, the difference between truth and error is excesses and extremes. Those excesses and extremes can be at either end of the spectrum. Or, if you prefer, the allegory of "the road of Truth" could be used, with the Truth represented by the road, and the ditches along either side of the road representing the excesses and extremes of error.

Such is the case with the real truth regarding the matter of prosperity and success versus whatever is the diametric opposite of that, which I suppose is poverty and failure. The real truth, that is, the Truth of the mind of God that is both concealed and revealed in Christ through the Spirit of Truth, lies somewhere between these opposing messages. The extremes on both sides are error and deception. We must be careful not to swerve too far to either side so as to fall into a spiritual ditch of error. There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers" (3 Jn. 2). But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. From God's perspective, true prosperity is commensurate with soul-prosperity, and not defined by the amount of mammon, or material things, we possess. Prosperity and success, and divine healing and health, taken to extremes and taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God: "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1).

Truth, in terms of human teaching, (please understand I'm not talking here about Truth itself that emanates from the Spirit of Truth), is virtually always found between opposing extremes, allegorically speaking. It's the extremes that are an abomination to God. From the beginning of time, humans have taken truth and twisted, distorted, and perverted it to make it say whatever they need it to say as support and justification for their evil desires and deeds.

What I see is that there is two sides of this coin regarding this matter of God's provision for us. The focus of the previous post was what the Word of God tells us about God's desire to prosper and abundantly bless His people. Like Abraham, he has promised to not only bless us, but also make us a blessing. In this and the next post, my focus will be the abundance of Scripture that counterbalance the "prosperity" side of the same coin.

The Parable of the Sower (see, Mark 4:1-20), according to what Jesus Himself said about it, could be aptly called "The Paramount Parable." When His disciples asked Him to explain it to them, He responded, as He did on several other occasions, with seeming frustration at their spiritual dullness, saying, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?" Jesus also indicated that this parable contained the key to understanding the "Mystery of the Kingdom." That is the title of a book I wrote and published in 1984 in which I explained what the Lord showed me concerning the meaning of this Paramount Parable and the "secrets" it unveils of how to bear Kingdom Fruit as well as "hidden" principles of how the Kingdom of God operates here on Earth. The rest of this post is taken from that book. Click here to read more about the book, which is available in both e-book and print versions.

Mark 4:7,18,19
7 And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 18 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word,
19 and the worries of the word, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Jesus identified in the Parable of the Sower four different categories of hearers, all of whom heard the Word, though only one responded properly and became doers of the Word, thereby producing Kingdom Fruit in their lives. As Jesus said, the Seed of the Word of God was sown on this category of hearers, which means they heard the Word, but there were also thorns growing in their lives along with the Word that eventually choked out the Seed, and thus it "yielded no crop" -- that is, it produced no Kingdom Fruit in the lives of these hearers. In His explanation to the disciples, Jesus indicated these thorns were "thorns of worldliness," and identified them as being, 1) the worries of the world, 2) the deceitfulness of riches, and 3) the desires for other things. He said these thorns of worldliness entered into these believers' lives, and choked out the Seed which was sown into their lives by the Sower (Fivefold Ministers) as the two grew together in the soil of their hearts, and prevented the Word from becoming fruitful. We examine here one of those thorns of worldliness -- "the deceitfulness of riches."

Deceitful Characteristic of Riches
Even the small sampling of passages I have mentioned here, well establishes the foundation that God does not require or even desire that believers live in poverty or financial lack, and provides us with more than ample Scriptural evidence to conclude without equivocation that it is not riches or wealth themselves that will prevent the Word of God from bearing fruit in a person’s life. Rather, as Jesus indicated in the Parable of the Sower, it is the deceptive characteristic of riches that can cause tremendous spiritual problems and prevent the bringing forth of Godly fruit in a person’s life, even those who have heard the Word of God. It is trusting in and coveting the riches that will choke the Word of God and prevent it from bearing the fruit it is intended to produce. As God says it,

the LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim. 6:10, KJV)

Riches can be so deceiving. Many a person has been deceived by riches. One of the worst parts of the deceptive nature of riches is a false sense of superiority. There is an arrogant and haughty spirit that can invade and pervade a person when wealth and the trappings of wealth are his quest and, in effect, his god. That haughty spirit is one of seven things that God absolutely loathes and considers abominations (Pr. 6:16,17); in fact, it is at the top of the list. Yet, sadly, many people are consumed with such a false sense of superiority predicated on their wealth.

Beyond that, many wealthy people are under the delusion they are somehow right with God simply because they are rich. The power, prestige, prominence, preeminence, and preferential treatment afforded the affluent in the world’s system often produces a blind self-righteousness and elitism which leads to the wholly false assumption that they must also be right with God.

However, monetary worth certainly does not impress God in the slightest, nor can it buy rightstanding with Him. Rightstanding with God can be gained by no other means than on the basis of grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-24). High-standing in the Kingdom of God is not based upon monetary worth, but on servitude to others: "whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of all" (Mk. 10:43,44). There is no partiality with God, for He is no respecter of persons. It is for certain that one’s financial status will be of no consequence on the Day of Judgment and one’s wealth will produce no advantage, for: "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath" (Pr. 11:4).

"How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter into the kingdom of God," Jesus said (Mk. 10:23). He did not say it would be impossible, but that it would be hard, or difficult, for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of God. He did not say that it would be hard for true believers who have riches or who are wealthy to enter, because all true believers enter into the Kingdom by grace through faith in Christ, regardless of their wealth or lack thereof. Jesus is not talking here about believers having money, rather He is talking about unbelievers who have not yet entered the Kingdom of God, and how hard it will be for them to do so.

The reason it will be difficult for them to enter the Kingdom of God is this arrogance and pride to which I have already alluded. There is only one way for anyone, whether rich or poor, to enter the Kingdom of God—by recognizing your utter spiritual poverty, that you are a totally lost and condemned sinner, and that you desperately need the saving of the Savior. Coming to that realization is often the stumbling block for the rich of the world, however. Pride prevents them from ever admitting the fact that, though they may have financial wealth and prestige in this world, when it comes to their spiritual condition, they are bankrupt and destitute. That is the essence of "the deceitfulness of riches," and many of the rich, unfortunately, have been deceived by it.

Jesus went on to say, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mk. 10:25). Now Jesus’ allegory here really was not of a camel passing through the eye of a literal needle, for that in reality would not be merely difficult, as Jesus said it would be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, but rather that would be altogether impossible.

Very familiar to His listeners, was something known as "the eye of the needle," which was a very short and narrow passageway in the wall surrounding Jerusalem. It was the only way into the city at night when the main gates were closed as a deterrent against enemy attack. Merchants returning home at night from their business forays usually did not arrive back at Jerusalem until long after the main gates had been closed. When they did finally return, the only entrance into the city was through "the eye of the needle," through which both the merchant and his camels had to pass.

Now the passageway by design was only large enough to allow a man to barely make it through down on his hand and knees, which design precluded en masse attacks by marauders. It was difficult enough for a man to negotiate the entryway, but the merchant’s camels also had to pass through the same portal. In order for the camels to be able to pass through "the eye of the needle," they would first have to be stripped bare of their cargo of wares which they had been carrying. Then, one at a time, with some firm prodding the merchant would coax the unwilling camels to bend down on their knees and to slowly crawl through the ever so short and narrow entrance.

Jesus said it was easier for those camels to pass through that tiny passageway, aptly dubbed "the eye of the needle," than for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom of God. For, you see, everyone must enter the Kingdom of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, in the same manner the camel entered the Earthly Jerusalem, allegorically speaking, that is, stripped totally bare of all worldly possessions and merit, down on your knees in true humility, realizing you possess nothing with which to commend yourself to God and that you are entering only through the wholly unmerited acceptance afforded you only through faith in Jesus Christ, and with profuse, heartfelt, and eternal gratitude and thanksgiving.

Everyone must repent of their pride and false sense of superiority in order to enter the Kingdom of God, no longer glorifying and exalting their self, but glorifying and exalting the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. As James said, "Let the rich man glory in his humiliation" (Jas. 1:10). How fitting also is the admonition in this passage directed to those who have attained unto wealth in this life:

Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and is ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; lest when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them...then your heart becomes PROUD, and you forget the Lord your God....Otherwise, you may say in your heart, "My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth." But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers as it is this day. (Deut. 8:11-18)

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lust; but the one who does the will of God abides forever. (1 Jn. 2:15-17)

The church needs an en masse deliverance from the spirit of the world that has marched in through the open door of the love of the world. The number one leaven that is defiling the church today is not Islam, Hinduism, counterfeit sects and cults claiming to be a form of Christianity, New Age, or any of the many false religions we identify as such, but rather the false religion of materialism. And the number one idol to whom the church pays homage is the god of mammon. Both John in the above cited passage and Jesus in the below cited passage made it clear that double-mindedness or spiritual schizophrenia, wherein one is deceived by the belief that they have both the love of the world in them and the love of God at the same time, cannot be reconciled and will result in damnation of one's soul:

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Lk. 16:13)

Poverty vs. Prosperity Gospel (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:20:00 +0000

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1)

Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion. (Prv. 30:8)

This is the second of a five-part series contrasting what could be called, "The Poverty Gospel," against what some have called, "The Prosperity Gospel."

As I have been indicating in some previous messages, in many Kingdom-related matters, the difference between truth and error is extremes. Those extremes can be at either end of the spectrum. Satan is a master at taking truth and misapplying it or taking it to extremes and thereby transforming truth into error. We see that in Jesus' temptation in the wilderness after being baptized in the Spirit when the Holy Spirit rested upon Him in the form of a dove. Immediately thereafter, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Mat. 3,4). Each of the three temptations Satan tempted Jesus with were perversions of Truth. In each of them, the devil quoted Scripture, but his application of the Scriptures were an extremism. In each case, Jesus responded with other Scripture that countervailed the Scripture Satan quoted and misapplied.

The Word of God says, "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1). The Bible is full of countervailing concepts and paradoxes. Critics and cynics, atheists and agnostics, often seize upon these seemingly contradictory or antithetical statements, principles, and axioms in their attempt to refute and discredit Scripture. But, that is as much folly as are the thoughts of the agnostic or atheist who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Ps. 14:1). Truth is always found between opposing extremes. It's the extremes that are an abomination to God. From the beginning of time, humans have taken truth and twisted, distorted, and perverted it to make it say whatever they need it to say as support and justification for their evil desires and deeds. There is nothing new about that.

Such is the case with the real truth regarding the matter of prosperity and success versus whatever is the diametric opposite of that, which I suppose is poverty and failure. The real truth, that is, the truth in the mind of God, lies somewhere between these opposing messages.

In regard to the matter of God's provision for believers in particular, we must be careful not to swerve too far to either side so as to fall into a spiritual ditch of error. We must not "throw out the baby with the bathwater." There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers" (3 Jn. 2). But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. Prosperity, success, and divine healing and health taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of seemingly antithetical and counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God because that is precisely what God calls "a false balance."

What I see is that there is two sides of this coin regarding this matter of God's provision for us. In this and the next post, my intent is to bring a balanced message regarding this matter, and show both sides of the same coin, because there is indeed two sides to every coin, as the old saying goes.

The Parable of the Sower (see, Mark 4:1-20), according to what Jesus Himself said about it, could be aptly called "The Paramount Parable." When His disciples asked Him to explain it to them, He seemed to respond, as He did on several other occasions, with frustration at their spiritual dullness, saying, "Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all parables?" Jesus also indicated that this parable contained the key to understanding the "Mystery of the Kingdom." That is the title of a book I wrote and published in 1984 in which I explained what the Lord showed me concerning the meaning of this Paramount Parable and the "secrets" it unveils of how to bear Kingdom Fruit as well as "hidden" principles of how the Kingdom of God operates here on Earth.

(Click here, for more about the "Mystery of the Kingdom" book.)

In a nutshell, Jesus taught through this remarkable parable that there are four types of hearers of the Word of God, and each of them chooses his/her "quality of life" on the earth as well as his/her eternal destiny and even destination by which kind of hearer they elect to be. Each category of hearer heard the Word, but only one of the four bears forth Kingdom Fruit in their lives. The other three did not bear forth Kingdom Fruit because of something they failed to do in the process of gaining and maintaining rightstanding (relationship) with God.

The third category of hearer are "those with thorns" in their lives. They heard the word, Jesus explained, but they failed to remove the "thorns of worldliness" from their lives, which grew up along with the Word and eventually choked it out, and therefore they were "unfruitful" or barren.

The second "thorn of worldliness" which Jesus said would choke the Word of God and prevent it from bearing fruit in the life of its hearers is "the deceitfulness of riches." Of paramount importance, however, as we discuss this matter, is the fact that He did not say riches themselves were a thorn that would choke the Word of God and prevent it from bearing fruit, but rather "the DECEITFULNESS of riches." Indeed, before we delve into the deceitful characteristic of riches and how it will choke the Word, it is somewhat vital that we lay to rest a fairly common misconception among uninformed or misinformed religious people. The essence of this rather widespread myth is that God is somehow opposed to the idea of Christians having money, at least in any significant amount, that God does not want believers to prosper, and that somehow to be truly spiritual one must be poor or at least only barely have his needs met.

We hear of the requirement of ministers in some denominations to take "a vow of poverty." Moreover, the preaching of some ostensibly pious people makes it sound as if God wants to take everyone's money away from them, leaving them poor and destitute. As a result, some people, ignorant of what the Word of God really says regarding the matter of money and other practical matters, have been led to believe that in order to become a Christian they would have to sell their possessions and give all their money away to the poor. Erroneous teaching based on half truths has caused multitudes of sincere Christians to believe God wanted them to live in near abject poverty, and to fear ever having any money, "because, you know, money is the root of all evil."

Well, nothing could be further from the Truth. First of all, the Bible does not say money is the root of all evil. It says, "the LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10). God is by no means opposed to Christians having money, but He is totally opposed to covetousness. To put it another way, God is not opposed to believers possessing possessions, but He is entirely opposed to possessions possessing believers. The love of money and the pursuit of riches will prevent a person from loving and serving God, for:

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Lk. 16:13)

The Word of God is full of passages telling us just how much God desires for His children to prosper. In 3 John 2, He says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health even as thy soul prospers" (KJV). What an amazing statement this is! Think on that for a moment and allow it to sink in. God is saying that above everything else He desires for us, and the Bible is replete with all the wonderful things He desires for us and our well being, above all those things God wishes that we prosper financially.

Now the surpassing wisdom of God is demonstrated in this statement, which is that it is absolutely essential that we prosper financially in order to prosper physically in our body (i.e., health wise) and spiritually in our soul (i.e., psychologically and emotionally). In other words, to be able to truly prosper in all the other aspects of our lives -- spiritual, psychological, emotional, and social -- it is imperative that we prosper financially. I do not mean we all must be wealthy to live happily, but what is inherent in this morsel of Divine Truth is the unequivocal fact that financial prosperity is a requisite for real happiness. Continuous financial lack is a severely oppressing force that absolutely precludes us from living full, fulfilled, and truly happy lives, not only because of the lack of "things" that without question do make life more pleasant, but also because of the lack of capacity to do the things, such as helping others who are in need, which bring us pleasure.

The inexorable oppression of never ending poverty has no rival, and to many is unbearable. Long term, enduring financial lack in the case of untold multitudes has led to extreme physiological, psychological, and emotional problems, as well as ultimately to premature death either by means of physical disorders or, in the case of those whose pain was overwhelming, even suicide. God knows all this concerning the importance of financial wellness to our overall well being, so it is His desire that we prosper financially, incredibly, "above all things."

Psalm 35:27 tells us to "CONTINUALLY" say, "The Lord be magnified, who DELIGHTS IN THE PROSPERITY OF HIS SERVANT," which is a far cry from what some people continually say. The truth is that God takes great delight in the prosperity of those who truly are His servants. When believers prosper through serving the Lord, God is glorified.

Another enlightening scripture says, "The Lord delighted over you to prosper you" (Deut. 28:63). Moreover, in this same chapter God repeatedly indicates that poverty is a part of the curse of disobedience, and that prosperity, not poverty, is a part of the blessings of obedience, which stands in stark contrast to the postulations of some pseudo spiritual people who preach just the opposite -- that prosperity is a curse and poverty is a blessing. Poverty is in no way a "blessing," as anyone who has suffered it can tell you, if they are honest about it and don't come up with some super-pseudo spiritual hogwash about how it "helped their faith" or something. According to the Word of God (and His Word is far more trustworthy than that of people like that), faith does not come by poverty, it comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Anything to the contrary is poppycock. Poverty, when a person gets tired enough of it, may motivate him to do a little more hearing of the Word, which in turn will produce more faith, but poverty itself is not going to help, increase, or activate your faith one iota; never has, never will. Rather, unabated poverty will ultimately produce precisely the opposite of faith.

God says if we will obey His voice and commandments, He will elevate us "above all the nations of the earth. And all these BLESSINGS shall come upon you and overtake you...the Lord will make you abound in PROSPERITY" (Deut. 28:11). Again, we see here that prosperity is a blessing of obedience to God.

In the infamous case of Job, he started out very rich, and after a period of reproof from God with respect to his blatant fear and lack of faith and trust in God, God made Him even richer, twice as rich as a matter of fact. Careful and unbiased study of his story will prove that contrary to his now infamous exclamation, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away," it was not God who took away all his possessions and children, but rather Satan, who was able to do so because fear of loss had pervaded his life and eroded the protective hedge of faith in God (read Job 2). In retrospect, Job admitted, "For the thing which I greatly FEARED is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me."

But, after being reproved by God through a face to face encounter with His Majesty Himself, a chastened Job exulted, "I know thou canst do all things...I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees Thee; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes." The result was that "the Lord restored the fortunes of Job...twofold."

We can see from the story of Job that God is not in the business of chastening those who are serving Him by stripping them of their possessions and relegating them to poverty, as some people ignorantly allege. Rather, as Elihu, the only one of Job's counselors to speak truth to Job, declared, "If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity" (Job 36:11).

Psalm 37:11 says, "The humble (obedient) will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity." And, verse nineteen essentially promises that even in famine conditions and economic chaos, the righteous "will have an abundance"(italics added by author).

The bottom-line is that God does not want His children to be in want of anything that is a legitimate need. One passage so much as says that: "O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him, there is no want...they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing" (Ps. 34:9,10). Another favorite passage tells us because the Lord is our Shepherd, we "shall not want" (Ps. 23:1).

What kind of a father would take pleasure in seeing his children in constant want and need, especially of the essentials of life? Certainly our Heavenly Father does not want us to be in want. Jesus revealed the attitude of our Heavenly Father: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give what is good to those who ask Him" (Mat. 7:11).

The Apostle Paul succinctly summed up the whole matter in this one passage: "And my God shall supply ALL your NEEDS according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Plp. 4:19). God promises in this verse to provide ALL of our needs, not necessarily our greeds, but all our needs, and in so doing will not limit Himself to our puny Earthly resources, but will draw from His own limitless wealth of riches in glory. Wow! What a promise!

In the next post I will show the other sides of the same coin, for we need both sides of the coin, with neither side being defaced, for it to be legitimate tender, allegorically speaking, that is, Truth!

Poverty vs. Prosperity Gospel (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:54:00 +0000

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1)

Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion. (Prv. 30:8)

This is the first of a five-part message contrasting what could be called, "The Poverty Gospel," against what some have called, "The Prosperity Gospel."

In many Kingdom-related matters, the difference between truth and error is extremes. Those extremes can be at either end of the spectrum. Satan is a master at taking truth and misapplying it or taking it to extremes and thereby transforming truth into error. We see that in Jesus' temptation in the wilderness after being baptized in the Spirit when the Holy Spirit rested upon Him in the form of a dove. Immediately thereafter, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Mat. 3,4). Each of the three temptations Satan tempted Jesus with were perversions of Truth. In each of them, the devil quoted Scripture, but his application of the Scriptures were an extremism. In each case, Jesus responded with other Scripture that countervailed the Scripture Satan quoted and misapplied.

The Word of God says, "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD; but a just weight is His delight" (Prv. 11:1). The Bible is full of countervailing concepts and paradoxes. Critics and cynics, atheists and agnostics, often seize upon these seemingly contradictory or antithetical statements, principles, and axioms in their attempt to refute and discredit Scripture. But, that is as much folly as are the thoughts of the agnostic or atheist who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Psa. 14:1). Truth is always found between opposing extremes. It's the extremes that are an abomination to God. From the beginning of time, humans have taken truth and twisted, distorted, and perverted it to make it say whatever they need it to say as support and justification for their evil desires and deeds. There is nothing new about that.

Such is the case with the real truth regarding the matter of prosperity and success versus whatever is the diametric opposite of that, which I suppose is poverty and failure. The real truth, that is, the truth in the mind of God, lies somewhere between these opposing messages.

I am not one of the mean-spirited, unChrist-like "heresy hunters" that exist today, who lurk around every corner, searching the Internet, and pouring over the writings, teachings, and recordings of prominent ministries looking for "gotcha" gnats, while they themselves are swallowing doctrinal and attitudinal camels. I do not condone or ally myself with such persons and organizations, who spend exorbitant amounts of time, effort, and resources on an ungodly agenda of identifying people who they contend are heretics preaching false doctrines and sometimes call false prophets, false teachers, heretics, and the like, primarily because those ministers are teaching doctrines they themselves don't like or espouse. While I do believe that the Bible gives us clear instruction on how to deal with those who are indeed preaching heresy and who are indeed false teachers and false prophets, I cannot subscribe to the vitriolic and hateful methodologies and agendas of the "heresy hunter" types. While I believe we are to heed the admonition to "keep your eye on (mark, KJV) those that cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them" (Rom. 16:17), there are a growing number of hardcore cynics who misuse such teachings of Scriptures to vehemently oppose and angrily denounce anyone who teaches doctrine contrary to their own personal doctrine or their denomination's doctrine.

Pilate asked Jesus the question of the ages, "What is truth?" Jesus answered not a word, because the answer was that he was looking at Truth. Truth is not a teaching or doctrine. Truth is a Person. Truth is the Word of God, and Jesus was the Word of God made flesh. Jesus Himself is the embodiment of Truth. The fact is that all truth, that is the wisdom and knowledge of God, is hidden in Christ Himself (Col. 2:3). Truth dwells not in the doctrines of men, but in the innermost being, or human spirit, and it is there that God makes us to know Truth (Ps. 51:6). As Paul said, there is a "hidden wisdom" of which those speaking through the Spirit speak (1 Cor. 2:7), but it is indeed "hidden" — hidden in the Spirit realm, and it is the Spirit Himself, "The Spirit of Truth," as Jesus called the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Jn. 4:6). Only He, the Spirit of Truth, can and will guide the believer into all Truth, for He Himself IS Truth (Jn. 16:13). I personally believe that there is no way we can ever be guided into all Truth without experiencing both the infusion and the immersion of the Spirit, and I have observed what to me is the incontrovertible affirmation of that proposition in the vast mosaic of diversity that comprises Christendom today.

God's intention is that no one can know Truth apart from a living relationship with God Himself. His wisdom is deliberately both concealed and revealed in Christ Himself. While we are instructed to "study to show yourself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15), nevertheless, no one can know Truth merely through cerebral study. Study is an exercise to educate your mind, which is part of your soul, but Truth is of the Spirit realm. And, the fact of the matter is, Truth consists of seemingly opposing matters or paradoxes. Give to receive, die to live, et cetera, are paradoxical Truths revealed in the Word of God. But, again, Truth is somewhere between the extremes of the swing of the pendulum.

Prior to the 1950s there was a "poverty mentality" that prevailed throughout the church. It was so prevalent because of hundreds of years of preaching of what could be called a "Poverty Gospel," vis-a-vis, the modern "Prosperity Gospel." As part of the restorational process God initiated in the early 1500s and continues today, in which God has been gradually restoring truths lost during the Church's 1,200 year long corporate apostasy, God began restoring the truth that He desired to provide the needs of believers and "that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers" (3 Jn. 3:1). One of the people God began using to preach this truth to the Church was Oral Roberts, who was castigated and virtually ostracized by his denomination for merely teaching that God was a good God.

Soon, others began proclaiming similar teachings regarding God's desire to bless and prosper His people both financially and physically. There was much truth in what some of those Neo-pentecostal preachers and healing evangelists, and later Charismatic preachers, preached in this regard. However, as time went on, especially during the subsequent Charismatic movement with its various sub-sects extremes and distortions emerged. Just as Satan always sows tares among the wheat, he also sowed error in and amongst the truth.

Fast-forward all the way up to 2008, and we find that there is unfortunate proliferation of counterfeit gospels transpiring throughout Christendom. One of the most prominent of those is a false "Prosperity Gospel" that is being preached over many pulpits and espoused and pursued by many in the figurative and literal pews today. My personal view is that the modern "Prosperity Gospel" is a counterfeit gospel that has brought immeasurable spiritual harm to the Body of Christ at-large on a global basis. In my mind it is an incontrovertible fact that the pendulum has swung too far to the extremes concerning prosperity and success in the preaching and teaching of some, especially among some camps. Unfortunately, when that happens the back swing of the pendulum is equidistant in the other direction as well.

I want to make it clear that I am by no means one of these "prosperity preachers," and am in no way allied or associated with any of the camps who espouse the extremes of the "Prosperity Gospel," which I believe is an abomination unto God because of it's false balance. In fact, I'm not part of any camp except God's. I have no denominational or protodenominational affiliations, alliances, or alignments. My desire is to be aligned with the Truth. Of course many would make the same claim, but any truth taken to extremes becomes error, yet the error of the extremists does not make the Truth any less true. I'm for the true or correct balance in all things; and I believe God is too.

The problem is that when writing about such matters where there is controversy, error, and excess on both ends of the spectrum it is difficult to speak the truth without sounding to those who favor one extreme of the pendulum swing that you are part of and aligned with those favoring the other extreme. What needs to be understood is that I am advocating for neither side of extremes, but strive to be an advocate for the Truth. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Sadduccees for being spiritually blind leaders of the blind, and that both the blind leaders and the blind followers end up in a spiritual ditch as a result of their blindness. The path of righteousness and Truth is lined with ditches on both sides. In the process of refuting error, we must be careful not to fall into one ditch or the other; both is nonetheless a ditch. Rather, we must be careful to stay on the straight and narrow path of Truth and righteousness.

In regard to the matter of God's provision for believers in particular, we must be careful not to swerve too far to either side so as to fall into a spiritual ditch of error. We must not "throw out the baby with the bathwater." There are a great number of passages of Scripture telling us how much God indeed does want us to "prosper and be in (good) health even as our soul prospers" (3 Jn. 2). But, the last part of that Scripture is the weightier and balancing part. Prosperity, success, and divine healing and health taken out of context of the rest of Scripture that speaks of seemingly antithetical and counterbalancing matters can become an abomination to God because that is precisely what God calls "a false balance."

I really believe the only safeguard against error in matters of Truth is that we must have a contemporaneous co-existence of the Spirit with the Truth in order to come down on God's side with a correct, rather than false, balance. As the Spirit said through the Apostle Paul, matters of Truth are spiritually appraised or discerned. That's why Jesus called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. May we all seek and possess the "Truth" of the Spirit in all these vital matters of the Kingdom. What I see is that there is two sides of this coin regarding this matter of God's provision for us. In the next two posts, my intent is to bring a balanced message regarding this matter.

A passage I believe gives us the key to understanding the Truth on this subject is Proverb 30:8: "Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion."

In the next post I will show both sides of the same coin, for there is indeed two sides of every coin, as the old saying goes. There is Truth on both sides, but we need both sides, with neither side being defaced, for it to be legitimate tender, allegorically speaking, that is, Truth!

The Consequences of Covetousness

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:56:00 +0000

As I stated on the previous post, I am convinced this whole matter I am discussing in these previous several posts is far from being a mere side-bar, but rather is a prophetic warning from God. I believe it is a critical Kingdom Matter that the Church must turn its attention to in order to be delivered from the dastardly and destructive spirit of mammon that now pervades the Church. Many individuals in the Church are obsessed with the spirit of materialism, and if they continue in their ways and in giving place to the devil, what is an obsession now, will continue to escalate and take more and more ground in their heart until materialism, the love of money, will totally possess them. Some who were once bona fide believers and members of the Body of Christ, have become apostate in their heart having yielded to the allure of purely material "wealth," and as a result are already possessed by the spirit of mammon.

I believe the judgment that MUST begin with the household of God has begun, and will continue in the form of the economic collapse America and the nations of the world are facing. But, as I have written in so many words in so many of my writings, this judgment that God is bringing upon the Church precedent to the judgment He shall bring upon the world is a judgment of purification and refinement. It is a corrective and reproving judgment to purify the Lamb's Wife for the imminent return of Christ to claim His Betrothed as His Eternal Bride and Helpmate suitable to partner with Him in the judgment of the nations in the Day of His Fierce Wrath.

The love of money, or covetousness, certainly is the root of all evil, and it causes a complete breach in one’s fellowship with God. Jesus said, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Lk. 12:15). As we have already seen, Paul said those who have coveted riches, often “have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang” (1 Tim. 6:10). Hence, we can see that covetousness and greed can most certainly cause a believer to “wander away from the faith,” that is, become apostate subsequent to salvation.

The Consequences of Covetousness
As Jesus said, no one can successfully serve two masters, God and money. He said that if you “love,” that is, attribute your affections to and expend the vast majority of your energies pursuing, money, you in effect “hate” God. As the Apostle John put it, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:15).

“Out of touch,” irrational, and unduly harsh, these undeniably Biblical Truths are considered in this day when the pursuit of riches has come to be regarded as a wholly noble and honorable pursuit, and when Christians have become indoctrinated with the concept that materialistic obsession is even godly. Moreover, anyone who dares to preach such concepts is subjected to scorn, ridicule, and contempt. Christendom today, for the most part, has lost sight of or does not want to recognize the Truth that covetousness is still sin for which there is a penalty if it is not repented from. The unadulterated Truth is this: anyone who fails to repent of covetousness will ultimately end up out of fellowship with God, will be disqualified from Eternal Life, precluded from inheriting the Kingdom of God, and banished from Heaven unto eternal judgment. The following scriptures trumpet forth warnings to that effect:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor IDOLATORS, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor THE COVETOUS, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor SWINDLERS, SHALL INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (1 Cor. 6:9,10)

For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or COVETOUS MAN, WHO IS AN IDOLATER, HAS AN INHERITANCE IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND GOD. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things THE WRATH OF GOD COMES UPON THE SONS OF DISOBEDIENCE. (Eph. 5:5,6)

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:...IDOLATRY...of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD. (Gal. 5:19‑21)

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murders and immoral persons and sorcerers and IDOLATERS and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Rev. 21:8)

Everyone should heed God’s warnings concerning the deceitfulness of riches and covetousness, including and especially believers, since it will most definitely choke the Word and prevent it from bringing forth fruit. Probably no warning in this regard is more poignant than the one Jesus issued through the medium of the parable of the rich fool:

And He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a certain rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘This is what I will do; I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Lk. 12:15‑21)

God called this man “a FOOL.” In his covetousness and greed he just stored up his goods, and as they increased, he merely built more barns to store up more goods. But, on the night his soul was required of him, he was spiritually bankrupt. He had stored up all his riches for himself, instead of being generous with it unto others in obedience to God. He was rich toward himself, but “not rich toward God.” God said to him, “You fool!”

The Word of God tells us to “give” (Lk. 6:38), not to “store up.” We are to be generous, giving to others who are in need and for the preaching of the Gospel. God Himself is generous, and is always giving. He gave the supreme gift of His only begotten Son, the best He had, to us for our salvation. A godly person, i.e., one who is like God, will also be a giving person. As a bonus, God says that whatever we give on behalf of Jesus unto the needy and for the sake of the preaching of the Gospel, will be returned to us in up to one‑hundredfold measure, NOW in this life and age, and in the age to come we will have the reward of Eternal Life (Mk. 10:29,30).

Jesus taught that the way to keep from being covetous and deluded by the deceitfulness of riches is to lay up our treasures in Heaven by giving on His behalf here on Earth. If we are covetous and greedily store up here on Earth instead, it will be constantly subjected to depletion by various forms of “thieves break(ing) in to steal” and economic modulation. If we are generous givers here on Earth, however, we will be storing up treasures in Heaven. But even greater than that, we will be demonstrating where our heart and what our “treasure” really is—things in Heaven, or things on the Earth:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mat. 6:19‑21)

Covetousness Not Exclusive to Rich
Having said all this concerning covetousness, it needs to be pointed out that there is a common misconception in this regard that covetousness is found exclusively among those who would be considered financially rich. But, that is a fallacy. You do not have to be rich to be covetous and caught up in the love of money. There are myriads with financial resources below the wealthy level who are covetous and deceived by the deceitfulness of riches. The fact is: there are many times more non‑wealthy people who harbor covetousness in their hearts than there are those who are rich and covetous.

The harsh truth is that their covetousness is often the very thing that keeps the poor reeling under the cruel curse of never‑ending poverty and financial lack. Sadly, the poor often stay poor because in their covetousness, or in some cases fear of lack, they never sow any financial seed, thereby precluding them from ever reaping a harvest. Those, on the other hand, who are generous givers, find the Law of Sowing and Reaping continually producing for them an abundant harvest that supplies their every need.

Summary
In bringing this series to a close, let me offer this summary concerning the second “thorn of worldliness.” Do not be deceived by the deceitfulness of riches. Place all your trust in God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Riches will fail you; God will never fail you. Riches are temporal, and only indigenous to this life; Jesus Christ is the True Riches of Eternity. Do not seek riches, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these THINGS shall be added to you” (Mat. 6:33).

It seems to me that the best attitude concerning riches one can adopt is found in the Proverbs of Solomon: “Do not worry yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it”; and, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the good that is my portion” (Pr. 23:4; 30:8).

If we will seek the Kingdom and righteousness of God rather than riches, the Word of God will not be choked by the worldly “thorn” of “the deceitfulness of riches,” allowing it to produce the fruit of the Kingdom of God in our lives, that is, if we also remove from our lives the three thorns of worldliness Jesus warned about in the "Parable of the Sower. -- “the desires for other things.” We examine that deadly thorn in the next chapter.[end]

The above is taken from a book I published in 1984 entitled, The Mystery of the Kingdom. Its message has turned out to be a timely prophetic message for every believer and the Church today. I urge you to read it. Click here for more information.

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Tue, 11 Nov 2003 21:29:00 +0000

If you did not read the previous three parts of this series, I strongly urge you to do so, because there the foundation was laid for this portion. Moreover, this portion cannot be properly understood or assessed apart from the backdrop laid out in those first three portions.

In this part we want to discuss two more elements commonly comprising the false unity that is passed of as being true unity within religious systems and cultures of domination and control of their constituents: Coerced Conformity and Required Uniformity.

Coerced Conformity

There are two other distinctive characteristics of this type of false unity predicated on and supposedly emanating out of this erroneous version of "covenant relationships"—coerced conformity and required or expected uniformity. Here again the nature of a counterfeit is demonstrated. A counterfeit by definition is a fraudulent copy of an original, a mock up of the real. It has the appearance of the real thing, but it really is not the real thing. It is a pretense of the real thing, but it only feigns the nature of the real thing. It is a phony, a fake, a sham, a falsification, a fraud. The intent of the counterfeit is to defraud by making you think you have the real thing but you really don't.

In the case of the hyper-authoritarian counterfeit of "covenant relationships" and the sham unity it engenders, the very valid principle of interdependency and fraternal responsibility among believers is extended beyond its proper import and intent to virtually nullify and eliminate any semblance of personal autonomy and individuality. Contrary to the prevailing "wisdom" within much of Christendom, "autonomy," "individuality," and the much-maligned "independence" are not "four-letter words." In their proper application and context, these concepts are not at all incongruous with the Divine Nature and Christ-likeness. Ezekiel's vision of a wheel within a wheel portrays the precept of "interdependence with independence" inherent in the Kingdom of God and which is to exist in the administration and the interrelations of the Church of God.

God has created every human-being with a will, or volition, and endowed us all with the inviolable right to self-rule, or autonomy. So inviolable is that prerogative that not even God will violate or impinge upon it. Even when we choose to subject and subordinate our will unto God's as Jesus Himself did in the Garden of Gethsemane, that in itself is a voluntary exercising of our own free will. We choose to submit and subject our will and purposes unto God and His will and purposes, but He never coerces us to do so.

It may come as a surprise to some, but being Born Again does not mean that we forfeit our free will and right to self-rule in order to become some sort of mindless spiritual robot or zombie. Even after the Holy Spirit inhabits our being, we are still free moral agents, and are given the prerogative and privilege of operating in accordance with God's revealed will, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us by His inner promptings and urgings, submitting to His desires, and thereby allowing Him to live His Life through us. Being a willing participant in this cooperative coexistence is the great joy and privilege of it all. We are not compelled and coerced, but entreated and enabled.

Even when we are indeed Born Again, inhabited by the Spirit of God, and have become doers of His Word—active cooperatives for God on this planet—we still are not merely a contingent of identical "clones." Even then, we still have a certain amount of individuality, we still have the right of self-governance, or autonomy, and we are even given a certain kind and degree of latitude and independence within the bounds of righteousness. Independence is not intrinsically evil. While there is a certain amount of interdependence inherent in our relationships as members of the Body of Christ, nonetheless, God made us independent as well. Though those two concepts may sound contradictory, in fact they are not, but rather are quite congruous.

Yet in churches and ministries where predomination or hyper-authoritarianism is flowing down through the leadership unto the members, there is a definitive usurpation of their free will and right to self-governance. The followers are indoctrinated to believe that God requires them to surrender their will unto the will of their spiritual leaders, and that they must receive the approval of their leader(s) for major and in many groups even mundane decisions of life. They are taught that Scripture teaches that they must conform to the dictates and desires of their "masters in the Lord." This "coerced conformity" often starts out small and seems somewhat innocuous, but then continues to increase and expand until it is invasive and eventually pervasive. The victim is no longer his own or even God's, but the slave of some flesh and blood human.

Required Uniformity

The other characteristic of this fallacious unity is that of "required uniformity." True unity is not and does require uniformity. Too often, however, people perceive unity as being uniformity. In fact, it is quite a common thing among humans to view diversity as opposition and even as a threat. People are commonly suspicious, distrusting, and unaccepting of anyone who is significantly different than they. Sadly, that is too frequently the case among believers also, both individually as well as the groups they comprise. But true "unity of the Spirit" engenders a oneness and fellowship with members of the Body of Christ actuated in the natural, physical realm, however, based purely on "likenesses" in, of, and by the Holy Spirit. True unity can never be attained on the basis of our fickle carnal personal likes and dislikes. Rather, "the unity of the Spirit" is a unanimity in, of, and by the Spirit, produced by the confluence of diversity to create a complimentary and harmonious concinnity (working together) of "the body for the building up of itself in love" (Eph. 4:16).

All of Creation itself makes it abundantly clear that uniformity is not a God thing at all. And if it's not a God thing, it certainly is not a good thing. God, like so much of His Creation, created us all unique. There's no carbon copy of any of us anywhere. We are all "one of a kind," not just the "weirdos" to whom that term is often attributed. God delighted in making us all unique and so we should embrace it and learn to appreciate and like those things about us that distinguish us. It is okay to be different than everyone else. After all, even God called us "a peculiar people," and I always like to add, "some more peculiar than others." We all have things about us that make us "weird" to somebody else. We all have what others consider idiosyncrasies, and that's okay, as long as it is indeed idiosyncrasies and not neurosis or psychosis.

Today, with the prevalence of amateur psychology in our culture, it is common for people to try make a character issue out of what is in reality merely a personality issue. I enjoyed immensely what Graham Cooke said in different contexts concerning the uniqueness of his personality, in his book, A Divine Confrontation, which I highly recommend:

It is too easy to make a character issue out of a personality trait. I am an introvert; that is my personality. I like who I am. I am pleased with how God made me. I am quiet, shy, and can be difficult to get to know on a personal level. I do confide in people, but I have to know them really well. I have been accused of being secretive and evasive about my private life. Some of that was due to lack of rapport and trust. Mostly it was because people expected self-disclosure from me in the manner that an extrovert would share.
Introverts share differently. We perceive, speak, and act quite differently from outgoing, expressive people. Extroverts may talk very freely when they are comfortable with people. They can share their life story in an hour. Introverts will drop clues that need following up. They need to see ongoing evidence of love, concern, and affirmation as they disclose themselves.¹
Who am I, Graham Cooke? I'm an introvert, and I love my personality. It is a gift of God to me. I'm quite shy and reflective by nature. I adore silence. I have my moments of madness in humor and can be quite funny. I know hundreds of people who are better than me at what I do, but I do not feel inferior to them. I love being with them, and I actively seek out my betters to learn from them.
I love depending totally on the Lord. My personality tends to sit easily with God's requirements for vulnerability, inadequacy, and weakness as prerequisites for knowing His strengths. I do not like platforms, and I do not find it easy to be a speaker on public view, though I am often told that I am good at it. I blame God for that.
I work best under pressure. I do not mind tough situations. I relish the battle. For me, spiritual warfare is about the majesty and supremacy of Jesus, not the power of the devil. I like cold beer. And soccer. I don't want recognition; I prefer anonymity. I want to beat the devil, to make him pay. I like a glass of wine with a meal and lots of friends to share it with. I love the way the Irish speak.²

Perhaps the reason I loved what Graham wrote so much is that every word and sentence through the last one I quoted described me to a "T" (except the part about soccer, sorry, I'm an old school three sports guy). To be honest, though, until I read his book, I was not as liberated as he is concerning self-disclosure, but I think his writing what he did has helped me in that department. The point is, though, that we are all unique and God has made our personalities what they are, so just relax in them, and be at peace.

A few years back the Lord did begin to liberate me internally about how that even my likes and dislikes—my personal preferences—were part of how He has made me. That was liberating. More and more, I am coming to be at peace with who God has made me. It hasn't been easy, and I haven't arrived fully yet, but I think the rest of the journey is pretty much downhill from here.

Let me say that I highly recommend that you too take a cue from this discussion about personality for your own life if you are at the place in your life that you can do that, because the benefit is that the more the God-kind of love for ourself increases, the more capacity we have to love others unfiltered and unfettered, for Jesus taught that we love others AS we love ourselves.

It is important to keep in mind that personality traits are not the same thing as character traits. Personality is innate; character is cultivated. Personality is inward; character is outward. Personality is about ourselves; character is about others. And, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free, so keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 6:1). Freedom is now a choice for those in Christ. We are the only ones who can make us slaves again. Most of us have kept the yoke of slavery upon our own necks by being a slave to what others think about us. That is such bondage! One of the toughest, yet most rewarding pursuits of life is the quest to be ourselves! Be who God has made you! The two great quests of life in Christ is to learn who God is in us and who we are in Him! The greatest freedom is the freedom to be yourself! Be you!

We have to remember that most people, especially before they die to themselves in Christ, are narcissists, who only love themselves, and therefore dislike anyone who is different than they. Insecure and inferiority-minded people are threatened by anyone that is significantly different than themselves as well. The spirit of religion makes people internally insecure, fearful, and inferiority-minded, so they are threatened by anyone who dares to live outside the box of their "god." But, we serve that "unknown God" Paul told the Greeks he served. We're His bond-slave, and none others. So, let us throw off the bonds of slavery. Let us praise and worship our God in the midnight hour, not only for who HE is, but who WE are in Him, and bring about such a shaking all around us that like Peter and James our prison cell doors will be jolted open and we can walk out of our prison cells of our own making free men and women of God, bound to no one except God Himself, and determined to become conformed into the Image of Christ (Rom. 8:29), and equally determined to resist all pressures to be conformed into anyone else's image! Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we refuse to bow down to any other self-deified image!

If each of us will walk in who we are in Christ, walk in the Divine Nature of which we have been made partakers, walk by the Spirit, then we will not be carrying out the divisive deeds of the flesh that separate us and preclude us from walking in oneness, and then we will automatically be walking in "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," for we will have "put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity" (Col. 3:14).
________________

Endnotes:

¹Graham Cooke, A Divine Confrontation, p. 106; Destiny Image, Shippensburg, PA.
²Ibid, p. 241.
________________

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 11/08/2003]

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to the pertinences associated with that movement.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Mon, 10 Nov 2003 21:07:00 +0000

If you did not read Parts 1 and 2 of this four-part article, I strongly urge you to do so, because there the foundation was laid for this portion. Moreover, this portion cannot properly understood or assessed apart from the backdrop laid out in those first two Parts.

In Part One, I said I believe in and covet unity among believers—wholeheartedly. I talked about my surpassing personal preference for unity over disunity, harmony over disharmony, accord over discord, concord over controversy, agreement over disagreement, amity over animus. I quoted Scripture passages indicating God's affinity for unity among the Brethren as well. Moreover, I stated that I believe it is vital to the Body of Christ in order to accomplish the purposes and plans of God on Earth.

But, then I indicated that the unity I believe in and strongly desire is Biblical unity, juxtaposed to the many other ideas of unity that exist today in the world. Then, I narrowed our focus to the particular notion of unity that many Pentecostals and Neo-Pentecostals have been taught, the centerpiece of which is the premise of "covenant relationships."

Here again I will state emphatically and unequivocally that I believe in the concept of "covenant relationships"—within its Biblical bounds.

I believe it is vital that relationships among believers be predicated on our covenant with God that we share, and that it is vital that our interrelations be rooted in the koinonia that the Early Church experienced for a time. But, again, the pivotal qualifier with respect to unity is the word—Biblical. Indeed, the point of this article and the book chapter from which it is adapted is that, unfortunately, the notion of unity that many in the Church today have been indoctrinated with is not true unity at all, but rather a convoluted counterfeit that is used by some either unscrupulous or unaware leaders as a subtle mechanism of manipulation aimed at predomination for self-aggrandizing purposes.

As I stated in Part One, the version of "covenant relationships" that has now permeated much of the Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal church is a product of a spiritually toxic rue of Truth mixed with mysticism. Under the auspices of the fallacious and errant teachings of the Shepherding Movement of the 1970s that were woven into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal Church at large, the application of the Scripturally-valid principle of interdependency and fraternal responsibility among believers, i.e., koinonia, is extended far beyond its import and true intent, and is conveniently transformed into very unscriptural chains of spiritual bondage and psychological captivation. While believers are to value and validate fraternal relationships, as well as demonstrate a certain measure of unceasing and "unconditional" commitment to one another, those relationships in terms of their application in the natural realm in the here and now are not sacrosanct or inviolable, and they most definitely do have limits. Understanding and acknowledging those limits is imperative to avoid excess and error. In this Part of the article, we will examine the salient characteristics of Biblical unity juxtaposed to those of this fallacious unity to which I allude.

Good and Pleasant Unity

Firstly, let's look briefly at the nature of Biblical unity. One dictionary offers the following definition and synonyms of the word "unity," which supply us with some excellent concepts concerning the unity that God desires the Body of Christ to flow in:

The state or quality of being one; singleness.
The state or quality of being in accord; harmony.
a. The combination or arrangement of parts into a whole; unification.
b. A combination or union thus formed.
Singleness or constancy of purpose or action; continuity.

Synonyms: unity, union, solidarity. These nouns denote the condition of accord resulting from an identity or coincidence of interests, purposes, or sympathies among the members of a group. Unity implies agreement and collaboration among interdependent, usually varied components… Union connotes harmony, cohesiveness, and often unanimity among individuals united in a whole…. Solidarity refers to the community of objectives and responsibilities that enables a group of people to think and act as one.¹

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! (Ps. 133:1)

Separating the holy from the profane, we can see from the very first of the unity passages I cited in the first Part, above, that the unity being described by the Spirit, in that it speaks about "brothers," is a unity that is mutual among all the brotherhood, not just certain ones. Indeed, the pivotal word in this passage is "brothers." To understand properly the unity that God has designed for us to walk in, it is imperative to understand that all believers—laymen and leaders alike—are coequal brothers and part of the Brotherhood of Christ. In this Biblical unity there is an inherent mutuality, void of exclusivism and elitism—that "big me, little you" attitude—so overtly manifest and prevalent in so many churches, church groups, networks, and denominations today, leadership in particular. Nothing is more divisive and stifling of comm-unity and camaraderie than such attitudes of arrogance and ascendancy.

One revelation concerning which much of the Body of Christ needs a fresh and added awareness is that regardless of our God-assigned function and responsibilities, status, or station in life, all believers—leaders and laymen like—are on par as brothers. Jesus explicitly stated that in Matthew 23:8: "all of you are on the same level, as BROTHERS" (L.B.). Spiritually, i.e., in our spirit-being, all believers, male and female, leader and layman, are coequal brothers. Though there is diversity in function, there is yet coequality or parity in our spiritual status or standing in Christ. In a word, we are "peers" or "fellows." Understanding that we are fellows is the fundamental ingredient in experiencing blessed "fellowship." Indeed, the overriding point this passage expresses is that unless believers relate and interact with one another as coequal "brothers," there will be no true unity, and their relationships and interactivity, rather than being good and pleasant will be bad and unpleasant—yea miserable!

Having become spiritual sons of God through the New Birth, believers are even (cherish the unfathomable thought!) on the same level with Jesus in terms of our heritage and inheritance. Jesus is even our Elder Brother!

the FIRST-BORN of many BRETHREN (Rom. 8:29);

For both He who sanctifies (Jesus) and those who are sanctified (believers) are all from one Father, He is not ashamed to call them BRETHREN, saying, "I will proclaim Thy name to My BRETHREN" (Heb. 2:11,12).

Merely by virtue of the New Birth, every believer is baptized into the family of God, the Brotherhood of Christ (also known as the Church). Moreover, God has Himself elevated the entire entity of the Brotherhood of Christ to as sublime a height as possible short of infringement on the God-Head itself! Truly, if we ever fathomed the profound depths of this glorious Truth, all perceived need for preeminence and predominance over fellows among the Brethren would be instantaneously and eternally eradicated! Would to God it would be!

Part of what we can draw from this unity passage is that the unity that is being spoken of is mutually beneficial in many ways and produces "good" results. In Part One I talked about the anointed ambience, or supernatural atmosphere, that was manifest in the Early Church as a result of the apostolic dimension that was present among them. What it generated was works of supernatural power in the form of healing, deliverance, and miracles as well as supernatural working in the lives and relationships of the believers. The result of it all was that the Jerusalem Church was "having favor with all the people," and "the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Certainly that would qualify as "good" results of the "brothers dwell(ing) together in unity!"

The unity passage also described this kind of unity that occurs when the Brethren live in harmony and oneness of purpose, or koinonia, as "pleasant." Pleasant is defined as giving or affording pleasure or enjoyment; agreeable; pleasing in manner, behavior, or appearance; amiable, fair and comfortable (as in pleasant weather); merry; lively. When Brethren gather and live their lives in comm-unity, all of those elements are manifest. And when they are, that certainly is pleasant! Where that kind of comm-unity exists, it always exists because of the Presence of God, and the Presence of God is manifest there because there is a core group of true worshipers who are worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth, which causes God to inhabit the praises of His people. And wherever the Presence of the Lord is, the atmosphere is to say the least—pleasant! It is pleasant because where the Spirit of the Lord truly is present and truly is Lord rather than humans, there is always discernible liberty, liberality, and liberation from the influences of demons (2 Cor. 3:17).

However, there is nothing whatsoever pleasant about the obverse of that—the atmosphere in which human predomination is manifest. In groups where it prevails—where the leadership is wittingly or unwittingly employing witchcraft to dominate, control, and subjugate the followers—there is a distinctive foul, foreboding, fiendish sense of demonic captivation tangibly present and readily discernible to those not bewitched by its spell. Indeed, when the interrelations among the members of a group are not a "good and pleasant" experience, chances are the "unity" being promoted and pursued is not a bona fide unity emanating from the Spirit of the Lord, but rather a bogus man-centered "unity" characterized by bondage, restriction, constriction, and demonic activity and attack.

All of these conditions are indicative of the spirit of divination or witchcraft, which some expositors posit is symbolized in Scripture as the Python Spirit. A python is a huge specie of snake often 20 feet or more in length that kills its prey by wrapping itself around its victim and squeezing or "constricting" it until it crushes or asphyxiates it. Constriction is the primary modus operandi of witchcraft. Its ultimate goal is to squeeze the life right out of its prey. That's precisely what happens to followers of spiritual leaders who are exercising witchcraft over them—eventually they become spiritually crushed, the Pneuma (Breath) of God, the Holy Spirit, spiritual life, is squeezed right out of them, and they die of spiritual asphyxiation.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 11/08/2003]

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to the pertinences associated with that movement.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Sun, 09 Nov 2003 18:47:00 +0000

This post is a continuation of the series on false unity. In order to properly understand what is written here, it is imperative that you first read Part 1, if you have not already done so.

True Unity is Not All-Inclusive
It's just not humanly possible to be committed to everyone in the same way and degree as we are to our own immediate families or our spouse, nor is that what God intended. Contrary to the idiotic, New Age, one-world, humanistic philosophies, the human race is not "just one big cosmic-family." Yet, many professing believers have not disabused their minds from the plethora of these kinds of "vain philosophies" and replaced them with the Truth of the Word of God. The result is that the belief system of these professing Christians is an eclectic mixture of false doctrines rooted in false philosophies and false religions from Astrology to Zen and everything in between. Certainly no less can be expected when masses of professing Christians are practitioners of scads of demon-associated practices from martial arts to Freemasonry to occult rituals to yoga and a slew of other false religious rituals, and are ensconced in romantic relationships with practicing and therefore demon-possessed Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, and so on.

God simply does not intend for us to be in "unity" with everyone! Unity is a oneness in mind and purpose. It is an agreement of sorts. Amos 3:3 says that two cannot walk together except by agreement. Believers cannot be in unity or agreement with and walk with certain people. That's just the way it is—deal with it! As much as you may want to bring the world's humanistic unity along with the rest of its vain philosophies with you into the Kingdom when you enter it, that cannot fly. And, at that stage of your immaturity, if you do not yet understand that and all the whys and wherefores of it, then you've just got to accept it by faith as being the wisdom of the wiser than you!

Sorry, you've got to check all the world's philosophies at the door when you enter the Kingdom of God! I know it makes you feel diminished and vulnerable as you start off-loading all that "wisdom" and "knowledge" that you accumulated from the world's university of "higher learning," but that's the way it's supposed to make you feel—humbled is the word—so that you will cast the whole of the weight of reliance upon God Himself and none other. All of that is nothing more than hot air and bluster that just makes you feel smarter, wiser, and more grandiose than you really are anyway. It's all a lie, and you've bought into it all hook, line, and sinker. So, how smart are you really, big shot? All along the devil's been lying to you and making you think more highly of yourself than you ought, which results in separation from God, so that he can ultimately destroy you. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prv. 16:18); and, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (Jas. 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5). So, why don't you make it easy on yourself and humble yourself before you are humiliated and come on down here with the rest of us Lilliputians who have realized we're a big fat ZERO in ourselves apart from God?!

Believers are not called to be in unity and agreement with everyone! We can't be! Our quest is fellowship, union, and communion with God preeminently—to walk with God. By definition, to walk with God, we must be in agreement with God. To be in agreement with God intrinsically means that we are going to be in disagreement, disunity, disfellowship with fellow humans who are not walking with God. It's just that simple. The Spirit puts it this way:

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate," says the Lord. "And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6:14-18, NAS)

This is one of the many promises of God in Scripture that is a promise of contingency. It's a covenant, an agreement, a contract—with God. It is a promise, for sure, but it has conditions that are just as sure, and those conditions must be met if the promise is to be fulfilled. The benefits of the promise are great—to the person who meets the conditions. To that person, God promises to dwell with them, walk with them, be their God and be their Father. But, if the conditions are not met, one cannot expect the benefits of the promise to inure to them.

Imbalanced "Unity" is an Abomination to God
Close study of the relatively (and surprisingly) small number of unity Scripture passages makes it clear there is a distinct difference between the "unity of the Spirit" God speaks about in His Word and the notion of "unity" centered around "covenant relationships" and promulgated by Latter Rain-influenced teachers. Subtle twisting of the Spirit-intended and -inspired import of God's Word and an imbalance in the application of the precept of unity has resulted in a distorted and debauched version of unity. Virtually invariably, over-emphasis, or over-balance, is what makes erroneous teaching erroneous, rather than the radical deviation from truth people commonly look for in their vigilance to spot error and avert deception..

Over-emphasis is over-balance, over-balance is imbalance, and imbalance is error, and—"A false balance [imbalance] is an abomination to God" (Pro. 11:1). Truth consists of counterbalancing components. Imbalance is averted by counterbalancing each component of Truth with the rest of "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27, RSV). Theological Truth is analogous to human cells in that each cell contains the protoplasm that comprises the whole body. In other words, each component of Theological Truth gleaned from the Word of God contains the essence of the whole Word of God, and will be completely compatible and congruous with same.

The unfortunate dynamic of imbalance or over-balance is that once it occurs, everything, even that which is good and right, slides toward the imbalance or error and becomes tainted by it. So that, once a person or a group loses spiritual equilibrium, a downward spiral into apostasy is begun. Only the sudden applying of a counter-balancing weight equal to the imbalancing weight can halt the descent, rectify the imbalance, and regain the equilibrium. Many believers and whole groups of believers, unfortunately have slid into an imbalance with respect to "unity" that is an abomination to God. Thus, an equal weight to the over-balance must be applied to the opposite side to regain the balance and rectify the abomination. God often uses prophets to bring a counterbalancing word which when given brings an offense to the mind of believers caught up in the deception. God often offends the mind to win the heart.

True Unity is of the Holy Spirit, not the Human Spirit
Unity among believers is vital, but it is secondary to and actually a bi-product of unity with God. A significant corroboration of that truth, though I will not elaborate on it here, is represented in the typology of Moses' Tabernacle, in that the Table of Showbread, typifying the Communion Table, one aspect of which is fellowship among fellow believers (cf., 1 Cor. 10:16,17), was located not in The Most Holy Place of God's presence, or Holy of Holies, but its anteroom, The Holy Place. The former signified fellowship with God and the latter represented fellowship with one another.

True unity is a union or "oneness" with God first and then with our fellows second. True unity is a unity in which our love for and loyalty to God is first or preeminent, and all other relationships are secondary or subordinate. In fact, true unity is a unity that results in unity with fellow believers but is rooted in and an outflow of union and communion with God. The nature of true unity is that apart from God it does not exist. True unity is a characteristic of the nature of God. Thus, He alone is the source of genuine unity. Contrary to what some people apparently believe, unity does not exist because you are wanting to have or produce unity. Rather, it transpires when you become, as the Early Church did however briefly, "worshipers in spirit and truth." In other words, unity is an outflow of true worship—"true worship" being defined as "worship in spirit and truth."

Unity is a God-thing! True unity is the unity that originates with the Godhead, the Trinity. The three Persons of the Godhead continually live in complete unity—oneness of mind and purpose. There most definitely is a "oneness" with the Godhead, but not the kind that unitarianists or modalists want us to believe. It is this perfect oneness or unity that flows from the Godhead that is genuine, bona fide unity. That's the Real McCoy! All other forms of unity are merely human and are counterfeits! Without God, and without His Spirit flowing through you to shape and formulate your life, you will never experience or appropriate the real thing! Genuine unity cannot be manufactured, but it can be generated through supernatural communion (union via fellowship) with the Spirit of God both directly and in the human spirits that He habitates.

Distinguishing True Unity of the Spirit From Contrived Counterfeits
Applied to human interrelations in general and the Body of Christ in particular, true unity of the Spirit flows out of a mutuality, a oneness in purpose and intent, between the Head (Christ) and the Body (believers). True unity of the Spirit is predicated on and operates by means of interdependency in which both the Head and the Body have equal importance and functionality. True unity of the Spirit is a fulfillment of Philippians 2:1-4, in which both the Head and the Body are of the same mind, maintaining mutual love, united in the Spirit, intent on the same solitary purpose (God's), doing nothing from selfish contentiousness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind each regards the other as more important than itself, not merely looking out for its own personal interests, but more concerned about the interests of others.

Being "united with Him" (Rom. 6:5) is the basis for true unity among humans. It is the peace of God that is "the perfect bond" between brethren and the perfect unity preservative. It is the unity "of the SPIRIT" that we are exhorted to preserve (Eph. 4:3)—the unity which is of and emanates from the Spirit, or Life, or Nature, of God, not humanistic unity. True unity is not a product of the human spirit, but the Holy Spirit. True unity cannot be manufactured by human endeavor, but only by the workings of the Holy Spirit. True unity of the Spirit is the by-product of being unified with Christ by virtue of the New Birth and walking in union and unity with the indwelling Spirit of God. True unity is not the product of "a meeting of the minds" or a contrived unanimity of men, but the natural by-product and outflow of agreement with the mind of Christ and conformity with the Image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). The groundwork for unity is not humans "reaching an understanding," but redeemed humanity renewing their minds with an understanding of the Word of God, and standing under its veracious authority.

True unity is manifest not by men seeking "common ground," but the "higher ground" of the Spirit realm. True unity is not based on compromise and reconciliation of differences, but rather conviction and reconciliation of humans' sin. True unity is not the result of talking things out, but walking, walking in the Spirit, for when we walk in the Spirit, bearing the fruit of the Spirit—"love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-discipline"—we avoid carrying out the deeds of the flesh, which are acts of selfishness and self-centeredness that separate fellows.. Instead, when we walk in the Spirit, we automatically abide in unity with others who also are so abiding. True unity automatically abides among people truly abiding in Christ. In short, true unity is not man-centered, but truly is Christ-centered!

Indeed, Christ Himself is the very essence of true unity. Any so-called unity and peace not established upon the foundation-rock of Christ is a Godless, humanistic, and totally counterfeit unity. Actions taken by humans in the natural, fleshly realm aimed at producing "unity" among men merely for purposes of self-interest, selfish-gain, selfish ambition, and self-aggrandizement, can never produce real "unity." Rather, the most it can ever produce is a bogus, synthetic, worthless truce, a dictionary definition of which is "a respite from a disagreeable state of affairs," rather than true unity. A "respite" is a short interval of rest or relief from adverse circumstances. Another definition of a truce is that it is an "armistice"—a temporary cessation of fighting by mutual consent. In the realm of warfare, an armistice or truce is usually an agreement entered into by two parties in which one, the vanquished party, is capitulating (surrendering, yielding) to the vanquishing party, the victor. One, through overwhelming force, has overpowered the other, and as an act of self-preservation the vanquished capitulates or yields to the vanquishing party.

The Bad Fruit of False Unity
Sadly, that is precisely how the precept of "covenant relationships" is used in much of the church realm, with the only difference being that the agreement is usually a "covenant" between the leadership (the victor) of the church or ministry and its members (the vanquished). Sometimes that religious hegemony is overt and obvious, but more often now these days it is subtle and disguised. Nevertheless, regardless of which form it comes in, the result is always psychological imprisonment and spiritual impairment. The victim will feel mentally incarcerated and spiritually diminished. Their poverty is revealed in the trials, troubles, tribulations, and tensions of life. As the storms of life or just the struggles of daily living arise, they find themselves bankrupt of the mental, emotional, and spiritual wherewithal they need to stand and withstand the torrents of trouble. Why? Because they've unknowingly disconnected from the Sovereign Source of Supply by connecting or "covenanting" instead with a self-absorbed, self-aggrandizing, self-deceived leadership that represents itself as being its followers' source. So, when they need God, they literally can't find Him!—because they've been indoctrinated to look somewhere else to someone else.

Do you think it may have been to this sort of subtle idolatry that Jesus was referring when He admonished us to call no one our "leader?"

In the third and final part of this series, we will examine more vital matters concerning the negative effects of false unity and how to balance the scales.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 11/08/2003]

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to the pertinences associated with that movement.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Sat, 08 Nov 2003 17:59:00 +0000

I believe in unity among believers—wholeheartedly. I believe it is vital to the Body of Christ in order to accomplish the purposes and plans of God on Earth. More importantly, beyond believing in it, I want it. No, I covet it! That is, I have a strong desire for it. I much prefer unity over disunity, harmony over disharmony, accord over discord, concord over controversy, agreement over disagreement, amity over animus. Don't you?

We know God likes unity too. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit spoke about it in Scripture:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! (Ps. 133:1)

I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me. (Jn. 17:23)

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph. 4:3)

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. (Eph. 4:13)

And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. (Col. 3:14)

I believe in and strongly desire unity, but I believe in Biblical unity. There are more versions of unity than just the Biblical one, however, that are not based in the principles of God's Word, Will, and Ways, but in a far different philosophy and agenda. For example there is the Muslim version of unity in which everyone in the world believes in Allah and practices the Koran, and the entire population of the world is divided into two classes—believers and infidels. There is the Catholic Church's concept of unity, in which all the religions of the world are coalesced into a single "unified" universal church. Then, there is the humanistic, Age of Aquarius, concept of utopian unity poetically and melodiously articulated by the hedonistic pied piper of the 1960s, John Lennon, in his idyllic ode to Godless one-world collectivism, Imagine. And, that's just to name a few!

Pentecostals and Neo-Pentecostals have been taught yet another adulterated version of unity that has actually become chains of bondage to them. The centerpiece of that version is the hypothesis of "covenant relationships."

In a nutshell, the premise of "covenant relationships" is that since all believers have come into a covenant-based relationship with God through Christ and His shed blood, and consequently have been "adopted" into the Divine Family (all of which, of course, is most true), then therefore, by virtue of that union, all believers have also automatically entered into a permanent, binding covenant with every other professing "believer" who has likewise become a partaker of the same transactions. Hence the term "covenant relationships."

This precept of "covenant relationships" with which most Charismatics are familiar had its origins during the Latter Rain Movement that began in 1948, introduced in the writings of a small number of proponents of the teaching associated with the movement. It is important in scrutinizing this concept for the purpose of assaying its validity to keep in mind that it was an important patch in the fabric of "the manifested sons of God" doctrine—a primary component of Latter Rain theology—which the vast majority of theologians consider heretical. Nevertheless, Latter Rain adherents continued to promulgate their version of "covenant relationships" during the Pentecostal Movement during the 1950s, the Charismatic Movement with all of its sub-movements that began in 1960 and ebbed in the mid-1980s, as well as the nascent Prophetic and Apostolic Movements. It was during one of the submovements of the Charismatic Movement—the Shepherding Movement of the 1970s—that the fallacious concept of "covenant relationship" became widely accepted and thereby was woven into the very fabric, foundations, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal Church.

"Koinonia"—Comm-Unity

The primary emphasis of the "covenant relationships" teaching is the interdependence and "koinonia" (i.e., commonality) among believers that it predicates on the fact that we are now "blood-brothers/sisters" by virtue of our having been adopted into the Family of God. Typically, purported scriptural support for this version of interrelations among believers relies heavily upon Luke's account in the Book of Acts concerning what took place in the Early Church in the days immediately following the original Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit:

And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common [Greek, "koina"; hence, "koinonia"]; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

This passage is indeed a key source of information about the supernatural atmosphere in the Early Church following Jesus' death, burial, resurrection, appearance, and ascension that transpired as a result of apostolic anointing and impartation. It truly was an ecstatic time! As the Body of Christ, individually and collectively, were being transformed into a collective Holy Habitation of the Spirit of God, and were gradually becoming more and more cognizant of who they were through the apostle's teaching, their commitment and dedication to one another increased commensurately. There was a commonality, koinonia, that developed among them, in which they were bearing one another's burdens in both prayer and practice, and living a life-style that was a daily practice of vivid connection with the Spirit of God and one another.

In trying to understand this commonality, it is vital to understand that it developed as a direct result of their devotion "to the apostle's teaching," preeminently. The apostolic dimension, when a group of people truly receive and devote themselves to it, will produce a supernatural atmosphere—an anointed ambiance—in which the supernatural is commonplace. And when I say, supernatural, I am not referring only to the signs and wonders of healing, deliverance, and the miraculous, that were taking place through the apostles, but also to the signs and wonders—the supernatural—that was taking place in the interrelations and interactions of these people.. It is not "natural," that is, normal human nature, for a group of people to be collectively and individually "devoted" to much of anything. It is not natural for a group of people to "day by day," consistently and persistently, "continue" in anything, much less something good and noble. Moreover, it is certainly not natural for a group of people to day by day continue in something "with one mind," and especially not in the Temple (church). But then to continue with one mind not only in the Temple but also as they broke bread together in Christian Communion in one another's homes, even doing it with "gladness and sincerity of heart," confirmed beyond doubt that what they were living in was truly a supernatural atmosphere! No wonder they were "having favor with all the people!"

This was genuine commonality, koinonia, or interdependence at its finest! This was living out in daily life Jesus' Commandment, which He said summed up all the law and the prophets—Love God and love one another. This was the essence and summation of the "Christian Life." For this brief moment in time described in Luke's account, the Early Church was a living paragon of Truth. They were "true worshipers," because they were worshiping God both in spirit and in truth, simultaneously. There was no separation between the spiritual truths they espoused and the application of those truths in their daily lives. This snapshot of the Early Church when koinonia was its centerpiece, is the model that the End-times Church should be attempting to emulate and regain.

So, lest I be misunderstood, let me hasten to say I wholeheartedly believe the principle of interdependence and commonality among believers is a valid principle, that is, within its Biblical bounds and framework. It is an incontrovertible fact that all genuinely Born Again believers have been "adopted" into the Family of God, and as a result have become spiritual brothers and sisters in the Lord. So also, the New Testament especially is replete with passages reminding us of our especial responsibility toward "the Brethren." Thus, in no way am I demeaning or diminishing the validity of the special familial-type relationship in which the Brethren all share, or the special responsibility incumbent upon each of us regarding our brothers and sisters in the Lord. A study of the "one anothers" in the books of the New Testament will bring to light the privilege and responsibility really entailed in Jesus' command to "love one another." Moreover, I would wholly concur that this privileged responsibility inherent with our special fraternal relationship has very real and pragmatic application in the natural realm and by no means is to be construed merely as spiritual rhetoric.

The Perverting Effect of Latter Rain Mysticism

Nevertheless, while the precept of interdependence and commonality among believers is certainly a valid one, as is the case with a number of other facets of truth, the version of "covenant relationships" that so many Charismatics have been indoctrinated with is a distortion and perversion that "exceed(s) that which is written," going beyond the in which the God-intended meaning and application as delineated in Scripture. A common denominator of all heretical teaching is the "super-spiritualization" of perfectly valid principles presented in the Word of God that are intended to have a fairly natural, pragmatic application, and on the other hand, "naturalization," or codifying in the natural realm, those things which essentially are spiritual metaphors and not intended to have an literal or natural application. The term that describes such super-spiritualization is: "mysticism." Unfortunately mysticism was quite prevalent in the doctrines of the Latter Rain Movement, and due to the continued strong influence of Latter Rain teaching upon the Neo-Pentecostal church, mysticism and mystical doctrines remain quite prevalent in the theology and culture of those churches yet today.

The version of "covenant relationships" that has now permeated much of the Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal church is a product of this spiritually toxic rue of Truth mixed with mysticism. Under the auspices of the fallacious and errant teachings that emerged from the Shepherding Movement, which were significantly influenced by Latter Rain teaching, the application of this Scripturally-valid principle of interdependency and fraternal responsibility among believers is extended far beyond its import and true intent, and conveniently transformed into very unscriptural chains of spiritual bondage and captivation. While believers are to value and validate fraternal relationships, as well as demonstrate a certain measure of indefatigable and "unconditional" commitment to one another, those relationships in terms of their application in the natural realm in the here and now are not sacrosanct or inviolable, and they most definitely do have limits. Understanding and acknowledging those limits is imperative to avoid excess and error.

No one in his right mind would be so foolish as to hold that this interdependence or "koinonia" amongst the Brotherhood does not have limits and boundaries. If you do, dear friend, I have some bills I would be happy to send you to pay, since absolute interdependence and liberal interpretation of "koinonia" would mean my bills are your bills. Oh, and there is a new car I am going to order and send you the bill to pay too.

Likewise, thank God that the concept of interdependence among believers to achieve "unity" does not infer an obligation to live under one roof, commune-style, with everyone else who claims to be a Christian. If it did, I'd go loony in a hurry, because I don't know if you've ever noticed, but as my former pastor used to say, "God has some strange kids!" I'm sorry, no one will ever convince me that communal living as a paradigm for believers today is the import of the Acts account of the Early Church as some people contend. As far as I'm concerned there's no roof big enough for more than one family unit. Sometimes there's no roof big enough for one family! Thank God, while calling us to a certain kind and degree of spiritual interdependence, at the same time, He has mandated a certain kind and degree of independence as well. Just because we are all part of the "Family of God"—we don't all have to live together under one roof, nor in some sort of a Christian kibbutz.

It's no different than how God has designed it in the natural. We are all members of the human race, but we are not married to everyone, but only to one spouse, and we have our own family with whom we are intimate and to whom we are wholly committed. Moreover, we have our own home we "go home" to each night—otherwise, it would be perfectly okay for a complete stranger to come sashaying into your house in the evening saying, "Hi, folks, I'm home! What's for supper?" We all have blood-relatives, but thank God we don't have to all live together under one roof as one family unit. If we did the insane-asylums and prisons would be far more populated.

In the next part, we examine further the excessive side of "covenant relationships" and discuss its adverse effects in the lives of believers and in the culture of churches that espouse those excessive concepts.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 11/08/2003]

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to the pertinences associated with that movement.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

The Invalidity of the Office of "Bishop"

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Sun, 08 Sep 2002 17:06:00 +0000

In the 1980s a spiritually perilous trend began developing in the Neo-Pentecostal realm, which was the human appointments of certain leaders into the supposed office of "bishop." This vogue has become especially popular and common in an increasing number of so-called Neo-Pentecostal "networks" that have emerged since the 80s, comprised of affiliated though purportedly autonomous churches. One prominent Neo-Pentecostal organization has formed what they call "The International College of Bishops," comprised of certain leaders of networks upon whom they have conferred this faux title.

This trend has developed despite the irrefutable fact that no such office or "position" is established anywhere in Holy Writ (The Bible), but rather in fact is undeniably antithetical to the governmental offices God has established in His Word. In other words, there simply is no such an office established anywhere in Scripture.

So what's the problem? In a nutshell, the problem is that this is precisely the path that the Early Church followed under the influence of the doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Jesus Himself specifically stated He hated and for which He rebuked the Church for tolerating and espousing, which ultimately led to the utter spiritual apostasy and decimation of the Dark Ages, from which it is still in the process of recovery. Follow along with me as I develop this premise and proffer what I believe to be a prophetic admonition from God to the Church to desist from this practice.

Applying the Berean Principle:
"Examining the Scripture...to see if these things be so"

The Greek word translated in the King James Version (KJV) as "bishop" is the word "episkopos," which literally means "overseer." This word, as it is used in the original contexts, bears no thought of an "office," or position of authority, or echelon of rank in the Church. Rather, it speaks only of the function of ministry in which everyone anointed and appointed by the Lord to Fivefold ministry within the New Testament Church operates. In fact, the terms "elder," "overseer," and "shepherd" are all synonymous terms referring to the same offices of spiritual function, which are the Fivefold Ministry offices. If to some the KJV appears to be referring to an "office" or "position" of "bishop," the reason, it is vital to understand, is that the cadre of translators appointed by King James in the Medieval Era to the task of developing an English translation of canonized Scripture, finally completed in 1611, were working from the mental backdrop of ecclesiastical concepts founded in the Dark Ages, and ecclesiastical structure in place at the time in the Roman Church included such positions.

However, the fact that the intention of the Holy Spirit and the original writers in the usage of the word "overseer" in the original letters was to refer, not to a position of authority, but rather to ministry function, and the fact that the terms "elder," "overseer," and "shepherd" are all synonymous terms referring to the function of those appointed by the Lord to Fivefold Ministry is abundantly evident in two particular passages of Scripture. The first is in the Twentieth Chapter of the Book of Acts, beginning with verse 17, in which the Apostle Paul has called together "the ELDERS of the church" at Ephesus, which he had founded, and over which he had apostolic oversight, and admonished them, "Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you OVERSEERS, to SHEPHERD the church of God..." (v. 28). Here we see the three terms of elders, overseers, and shepherd being attributed to the same individuals, the latter two of which, overseers and shepherds, spoke explicitly of their function in the capacity as the first, elders.

The second proof text is the first three verses of First Peter, Chapter 5, in which Peter as an apostle (an elder who has oversight over other elders by virtue of esteem) addresses the elders of the various churches with this exhortation: "Therefore I exhort the ELDERS among you, as your fellow elder...SHEPHERD the flock of God among you, exercising OVERSIGHT...." Again, the same three terms are mentioned here, attributing the functions of shepherding and oversight to the elders collectively.

Hence, we see from these two passages that what the Holy Spirit is communicating through this usage of the word "episkopos" is that all elders have two primary functions: to shepherd the flock of God, and to provide spiritual oversight (look after the spiritual well-being) of the flock allotted to their charge by the Holy Spirit. It is referring to the function of Fivefold Ministers (who, incidentally, are all Shepherds, not just the pastors), rather than establishing an authoritarian position of ascendancy and domination over fellow believers as so commonly but wrongly purported by so many today. In fact, the third verse of the previously mentioned passage, while specifically instructing the elders to shepherd the flock of God, exercising spiritual oversight, explicitly enjoined them against "LORDING IT OVER those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock."

Thus, to summarize the point, when someone takes upon himself, or has conferred upon him, this purported title of "bishop," he is engaging in modern-day Nicolaitanism, the deeds and doctrines Jesus explicitly stated He "hated." He is perpetrating a patently ungodly and unscriptural form of predomination over fellows that certainly is not reflective of the model of servanthood ministers are called to demonstrate as representatives of the Ultimate Servant and Chief Shepherd, and now Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Church Jesus is Building
is Founded Upon Apostolic Authority

The Church that Jesus is building is founded upon APOSTOLIC authority. There is no authority or offices in the Church of which Jesus is the Head higher than or transcendent over apostolic authority.

In His now infamous dissertation to Peter and the other Apostles of the Lamb, Jesus declared the Church to be His very own possession, His consuming passion, and that He Himself was its Chief architect and builder, when He proclaimed, "I will build My Church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it" (Mat. 16:18). When contemplating this statement, it is imperative to remember that when Jesus said He would build His Church, He meant He would build His Church through, foremostly, the foundation ministries of apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20).

Prior to His ascension, Jesus personally selected twelve "disciples" who merely by His appointment and anointing became "apostles" (Mat. 10:1,2), and relegated to them the task and function of being the chief surrogate builders of His Church. This established the apostolic precedent for the ultimate superintendence of the Church. This apostolic precedent Jesus set and which He has never since rescinded, remains in effect throughout the Church Age. 1 Cor. 12:28 makes this abundantly clear, in that it explicitly states that "God has SET in the CHURCH, first apostles, second prophets," which means that apostles and prophets are permanently set into Church for as long as the Church exists and remains here upon the Earth, or in other words, for the duration of the Church Age. The term "set" in this passage, it is important to understand, connotes permanence, in the way the term is used to refer to what happens with concrete as it dries—it becomes set. (Further discussion concerning the office of apostles and their role in the Church is contained in the book on which this article is based, Charismatic Captivation.)

The Church is established upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone" (Eph. 2:19,20). Truth declares unequivocally that the Church Jesus is building is founded upon and will be built up through apostolic authority. The true Church of Jesus can never be established upon any form of government other than apostolic authority. The Church-Age began with apostolic authority in place, and apostolic authority will be in place at its culmination. Moreover, it will only be when the Church returns to apostolic authority and foundation that genuinely significant spiritual advancements will be made.

Similarity of Nicolaitan and Discipleship Heresies

The natural nemesis of that apostolic authority has always been, and will always be humanly-contrived and -appointed, politically-based, hierarchical systems of ecclesiastical government. Supplanting of the apostolic authority or government established by Jesus was a primary factor precipitating the Church's gradual descent into the throes of deception and apostasy that transpired in the Dark Ages. Abrogation of apostolic authority in favor of politico-ecclesio hierarchy led to the virtual debacle of the Church as the instrument for implementation of Divine purpose, reducing it instead to being an agent of demonically-inspired humanistic purposes. No other single element was more causal to the deterioration of the Church during its corporate apostasy than this supplanting of apostolic authority. The heretical Nicolaitan strategy to "conquer the laity" as their name implies, was the chief element precipitating the corporate apostasy of the Early Church.

This modern trend of human appointment of men to the humanly contrived office of bishop began on the heels of the demonically-inspired Discipleship/Shepherding movement that emerged in the early 1970s. When you cut through all the rhetoric and faulty apologetics proffered by their proponents, the hyper-authoritarian teachings and practices promulgated via that movement, along with its coupe de grace of "bishops," are virtually identical to the doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans who emerged in the first century, and whose influence eventually led to the emergence of an apostate "universal church." These hyper-authoritarian doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans, which Jesus said He hated, eventually led to a hierarchical system of church government comprised of priests, bishops, arch-bishops, cardinals, and so forth, under the ultimate authority of the Pope.

Indeed, what is imperative to understand about this issue is that it is an indisputable fact that the Nicolaitan heresy was the primary force leading to the supplanting of apostolic authority in the Early Church, which in turn ultimately led to the corporate ecclesiastical apostasy of the Dark Ages. So also the heretical Discipleship/Shepherding teachings advocate a counterfeit authority system that in effect supplants apostolic authority. The similarity is just too striking to be merely ironic or coincidental. Rather, it is my confident conviction that the Nicolaitan doctrines were planted by Satan in the Early Church to supplant and effect the abrogation of apostolic authority, and in identical fashion the Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines were implanted by Satan in the End-times Church with the express intent to supplant apostolic authority, and impede, or if possible, preclude, the restoration of same. In the case of the latter, however, Satan's hysterical efforts, in the end, will not be successful, for apostolic authority and anointing will indeed be restored to the Church.

We are told through the writing of Solomon that in reality there is nothing that is truly "new":

That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new? Already it has existed for ages which were before us. (Ecc. 1:9,10)

And so it also is with the unscriptural hypotheses brought forth in the heretical Discipleship doctrines. They are virtually identical to those promulgated by the Nicolaitans, which, as I have said repeatedly, was the seed from which the fallacious hierarchy of the universal Roman church was germinated.

The reason for the similarity lies squarely in the fact that these doctrines were not merely contrived in the minds of men. Rather, they genuinely are "doctrines of demons" of the sort prophesied by the Apostle Paul in his letter to his younger protégé Timothy (1 Tim. 4:1ff). He foretold that in the last days there would arise patently demonic but subtle and impelling doctrines of deception that would actually be promulgated by lying, deceiving spirits through the agency of human teachers. These false teachings would be so subtle and impelling that many genuine and sincere believers would be duped by and give heed to them, with the result that bona fide believers will fall away from a true relationship and rightstanding with God into apostasy and perdition.

Indeed, this egregiously erroneous Discipleship/Shepherding teaching, I am absolutely persuaded, is a doctrine of this sort. It is contrived by the devil himself and promulgated by his fallen cohorts, demons, with the objective of craftily leading unsuspecting believers into spiritually idolatrous and adulterous covenants with mere men, and away from effectual relationship and rightstanding with God. As I have been establishing, these doctrines and practices are essentially the same age-old attempts by Satan to captivate and control people through the mythical utopian bliss of religious collectivism: promising them freedom while they (Satan and his cohorts) are the slaves of corruption" (2 Pet. 2:19, parenthesis added by the author).

Jesus' Disdain for the Nicolaitan Deeds and Doctrines

Considering the eventual denouement and consequences of the Nicolaitan heresy, it is little wonder why Jesus issued such a terse but severe warning to the Early Apostolic churches through the Apostle John regarding the Nicolaitans in the apocalyptic vision comprising the book of Revelation. It is in His commendation to the church of Ephesus in which Jesus expresses His utter disdain for the premise of such ecclesiastical predomination as that proposed and promulgated by the Nicolaitans: "Yet this you do have, that you hate the DEEDS of the Nicolaitans, WHICH I ALSO HATE" (Rev. 2:6).

Jesus' commendation of the Ephesians for recognizing the hereticalness of the ungodly teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans, and their consequential resistance and rejection of the false doctrine, is a tribute to the Apostle Paul who founded the church, to Timothy, who Paul personally tutored and sent to be their chief elder, and to all the other Fivefold ministers who contributed toward the spiritual development of the Ephesians. They had been so well taught that they were not deceived by men who came to them claiming falsely to be apostles (Rev. 2:2), and they did not succumb to the demonic doctrines and deeds of the Nicolaitans.

Though the Ephesian church was not taken in by the hypothesizing and attempted hijacking by the Nicolaitans, unfortunately, this was not the case with another of the seven Asia Minor churches explicitly addressed by Jesus in the Revelation communicated through John-the Pergamum church. Jesus sharply condemned the Pergamum church because "some" among them (some of which apparently were among the leadership of the church, else it could not have existed in the church long) had indeed been deceived into accepting and espousing the teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans: "Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching (doctrine) of the Nicolaitans" (Rev. 2:15).

The Nicolaitan heresy was not the only deception by which the Pergamum believers had been bewitched, however. For, Jesus also rebuked them because some of their membership also espoused some other form of false teaching leading to some form of idolatry and immorality that the Lord said was akin to the teaching of the prophet Balaam:

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. (Rev. 2:14)

(Note: The book on which this article is based, Charismatic Captivation, contains an entire chapter devoted to the history of the Nicolaitans.)

Are We Heading Toward Another Corporate Apostasy?

Jesus' apocalyptic warning against the doctrine and the deeds of the Nicolaitans is more than just interesting. The truth of the matter is that had the early churches given heed to those Divine warnings, the course of Church history would have been totally different than what it was, because as mentioned before the demonically inspired teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans resulted ultimately in the Papal system that supplanted the apostolic authority upon which the Church was founded. This, indeed, was not only the most grievous and egregious effect of the Nicolaitan heresy, but no doubt also the very objective of the arch-enemy of the Church, Satan, who personally contrived this diabolical deception.

The question before the Church today is: will we allow ourselves to be taken into the error and resulting apostasy that was the fate of the Pergamum Church by continuing on this path of displacement of apostolic authority by a Scripturally-invalid system of government and authority, i.e., bishops and the rest that comes after that, or shall we cease and desist from that trend and opt instead to return to the apostolic-prophetic foundation so that indeed "the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former?" The Worldwide Universal Church will not cease and desist from that path, but will follow it to the end to in the name of ecumenicism, align all the "religions" of the world under the Roman Papal System. Sadly, the Spirit tells me that huge blocks of even the Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal Church will ultimately depart from the true Church that Jesus is building and ally with the apostate Antichrist universal church, taking multitudes of their adherents with them, in fulfillment of the Spirit's prediction set forth in First Timothy 4:1,2.

As sad and distressing as that is, the most important question of all to you, the reader, and to every believer is: Which church will you be a part of—the one whose ultimate architect is the arch-enemy of God which will be led by the false prophet in alliance with the AntiChrist, or the End-time Remnant Church that Jesus is building and whose Architect is God?

[Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the "Discipleship or Shepherding Movement (1970-77)." References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variations thereof) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to those pertinences that arose out of that movement.]

The Encouraging Wife

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Mon, 07 Jan 2002 22:55:00 +0000

The following are a few DOs and DON'Ts of how a wife can be "encouraging" to her husband. They are by no means exhaustive or comprehensive, nor is there much background, explanation, or anecdotal application offered here.

Indeed, this writing was not intended to be a treatise on the matter, but rather these are merely a few basic points that occurred to me while addressing the topic in correspondence with a friend. They are, nevertheless, sound, Scriptural, and effectual. It was only after I read over what I had written that I felt it was something the Lord wanted me to pass along to others. I hope it helps.

Now it is important to keep in mind that all of this is going to be most applicable to and effective in God-centered marriages in which both partners are Born-Again believers who are attempting to live for God and to allow Him to effect the lifelong process of sanctification in their heart, soul, and life.

Wives whose marriages are experiencing disenfranchisement and relational breakdowns for whatever reasons, along with the hurts and negative effects that ensue, may find application of these principles and the desire to apply them challenging. However, making an attempt to apply them as best as you can will not harm anything, and will go a long way in producing an ambiance in which healing and restoration can more easily take place, with the ever-present help of the "Helper," Holy Spirit.

It is always needful in attempting to put such spiritual principles into practice, to keep in mind that there is no such a thing as a PERFECT person. We are all flawed and imperfect. And, because there are no perfect people, neither is there such a thing as a PERFECT relationship. Relationships CAN'T be perfect, because they consist of IMperfect people who have flaws, faults, shortcomings, inadequacies, and weaknesses. But, Agape-love — the God kind of love — is UNCONDITIONAL love, which in effect says, "I'm not going to wait until you are perfect in my eyes or every little thing I want or think you ought to be, but rather I am going to totally accept and love you right now UNCONDITIONALLY."

Remember, this God-kind-of-love WORKS, it must work, because it's the kind of Love God is loving you with, without judgment or condemnation. He says to us all, "Come unto Me….and I will in no wise cast you out (or reject you)." Because He loves us like that, it gives us the spiritual "atmosphere" and impetus we need to change and grow spiritually.

DO —

LISTEN. Always be willing to listen and really "hear" what he is saying — with both her head (mind) and her heart (emotions). Develop/exercise good listening skills, the first rule of which is to treat serious conversations like CB radio communication, which consists of strictly uni-directional transmissions and not bi-directional simultaneous transmissions — in other words, don't talk while you're listening! When he talks — focus on listening to him, be attentive, hear him out without interrupting, or talking over him, or assuming what he is going to say, and without thinking she has to think of a resolution to the matter he is talking about — JUST LISTEN. Be willing to just be a sounding board — this is all part of the multiple roles husbands need their wife to fulfill in their relationship — partner, confidante, companion, lover, and "fan."
ALLOW. Allow him to express himself to her freely and openly — showing his humanness, i.e., vulnerabilities, insecurities, shortcomings, needs, without any concerns of her judging, disrespecting, depreciating him, or condescending to him for opening up and sharing from his "inner sanctum." Mature understanding keeps in mind that there are times everyone experiences when they simply don't know what to do about a particular matter or course of action, don't have clear direction, and have struggles they have to pray and work through — this is normal life!
ACCEPT. Related to above, a wife must show her husband that she accepts him just the way he is without judging and condemning him, FROM THE HEART, entirely, unequivocally, unreservedly, unabashedly, unquestioningly, and SHOW HIM, over and over and over and over, continuously that she does, that she not only loves him, but also likes him, and not be constantly trying to remake him in her own image or to be what she wants him to be.
ACKNOWLEDGE/RESPOND. During the course of conversations, it is very important when he is talking that she verbally communicate to him that she both comprehends what he is saying (intellect) and understands what he is feeling (emotion), yet without interrupting him or talking over him, and that she can certainly empathize with his mental perspective of the matter as well as the emotions or sentiments he is feeling as a result.
IDENTIFY. Because of the truths enumerated in #4, it is incumbent upon the wife to identify with the problem as if it were hers, because in reality, like it or not, and in one way or another, it IS her problem too — in one way or another, whatever affects him, affects her.
BEAR: Bear the burden. The Bible tell us we are to "bear one another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2) There is no greater application of this than in the husband-wife relationship. The wife must show her husband that she does not consider anything he is facing to be HIS problem, but rather she fully embraces it as being THEIR (collective) problem. Both partners need to understand that one person's problems/difficulties in reality, like it or not, is BOTH their problem. Marriage is a joint venture, a concert. Spiritually, the two are "one" — two parts of one whole — not two independent individuals doing their own thing and merely sharing living quarters. Neither partner should ever project an attitude of disenfranchisement, disassociation, disengagement, or withdrawal. The wife must constantly and consistently show her husband and CONTINUOUSLY reassure him that she is totally and completely on his side in this matter and all matters, forever, NO MATTER WHAT! They are a team! This is not an adversarial relationship. They are on the same side of the table, metaphorically speaking. They are in this together.
TRUST/HONOR/RESPECT. Trust and have faith in his judgment — do not second-guess his thinking, judgment, or rationale. This may be the most critical way a wife manifests her respect and honor of her husband. The wife must show her husband that she totally respects and honors him as the head/leader of their family, and highly regards his leadership acumen and abilities, and therefore will follow his leadership without reservation or equivocation.
LOVE. Truly love him, from the heart, with all her heart, recklessly, without abandon, passionately, thoroughly, intensely, sowing into him all the seeds of love that she wants to receive an abundant harvest from. And, to do this, it is absolutely critical that she understand that love is not merely an emotion, but that according to God's Word, love is deeds and attitudes, which are enumerated in 1 Cor. 13.
PRAY.Pray for him! Instead of engaging in the "DON'Ts" that follow, she should be so totally caught up in what her role IS as a faithful and godly wife, and in her total and complete trust in her husband's Lord, Jesus, to take care of any shortcomings, flaws or faults in her husband's life, that she doesn't even look for any of those things.

DON'T —

BLAME. A wife should not be continually blaming her husband for all their difficulties. The Bible indicates in numerous places that even as Born Again, Spirit-filled, Spirit-baptized followers of Christ, in this world system we are going to face many trials, troubles, temptations, tests, tribulations, and persecutions. Becoming a Christian does not exempt us from such difficulties. Experiencing such struggles is not a sign of weakness or that "something is wrong," but rather it is a guaranteed part of all of our lives and walk with the Lord. Like it or not, we have an adversary — the devil, who is waging an all out, life or death, WAR against us. Like the 9-11-2001 attacks on America, we didn't choose to be attacked by a vicious, wicked, crazed, enemy, rather the enemy chose to attack us and engage us in war, and we have no choice but to resist the enemy and engage the battle. The wife needs to constantly remind herself of these things, and that her husband is not the adversary; the devil is; and the two of them must stand united against the real enemy and wage spiritual war, utilizing "the weapons of OUR warfare (which is a spiritual war)" against the true enemy. Wars are not for wimps! But WARRIORS!
CORRECT/REPROVE. Understand it simply is not the role or responsibility of the wife to correct or reprove the husband. Men never react positively to such attempts anyway, for the very reason that they see them as an undermining of their role and place in the family and a direct assault on their manhood. (In no way, however, is this saying that a wife should just ignore improper or immoral behavior, but that is a different matter entirely.)
LEAD/GUIDE/DIRECT. A wife should never try to lead, guide, or direct her husband regarding decisions and the course of the collective life of the family. The Bible clearly and unequivocally states that the husband is the head of the wife (1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:23), and the family. He is responsible and accountable to God for the governing of his family. Morever, it also states in the same verses Christ himself is the Head of the husband, not the wife, so it is a total violation of the order of God for the wife to attempt to govern the husband or family.
JUDGE, CRITIQUE, CRITICIZE. A wife must resist the tendency to judge, critique, criticize, analyze her husband, looking for and focusing on his shortcomings, flaws, or faults. Engaging in such is simply not her place or role. Moreover, it is SIN and totally ungodly. God's Word admonishes, "Judge NOT, lest you also be judged." The Law of Reciprocity governing this world provides that we always reap what we sow. If we judge others, we will likewise be judged.. It's a law! There's no way to avoid or circumvent it. The so-called "Golden Rule" is predicated on this Law — "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This Law is especially effectual in the marriage — it only produces strife and resentment. If a wife is constantly judging and criticizing her husband, that is what she is going to reap in return. She should fervently pray to the Lord, asking Him to change her heart and mind in this respect.

If a wife will dedicate herself to her husband by practicing these few behaviors and focus on examining herself, as God's tells us to do in His Word, then a "godly" husband — a Spirit-infused, God-obedient husband who recognizes He is under the authority of God — will have a very difficult time NOT willingly complying and comporting with God's repeated command to God-related husbands: "Husbands, LOVE YOUR WIVES, as Christ loved the church (the Lamb's Wife), and gave Himself up (sacrificed Himself — His own wants and desires) for HER!"

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 01/07/2002]

Spiritual Idolatry

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Fri, 15 Oct 1999 18:37:00 +0000

Though the term is a fairly familiar one within the context of the church and Christianity, few people really understand what spiritual idolatry is, meaning its true nature. In this article we are going to consider the matter of spiritual idolatry and what it is from a Biblical standpoint.

To merely call idolatry "sin," though it certainly is, somehow seems an extreme understatement, for it is the ultimate affront unto God. Yet, arguably, it is the most pervasive sin of all today among professing believers. Contributing to the prevalence of idolatry within Christendom, no doubt, is the common perception by many that idolatry is something that occurs only in underdeveloped, far-away, foreign lands, or that it is something relegated mostly to ancient civilizations of past ages, while nothing could be further from the truth.

In Galatians 5:20, the Apostle Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit listed "idolatry" as one of the fundamental elements of evil comprising the carnal nature, or sin nature, which actually is the nature of the devil himself, and which is also alluded to as the "spirit of disobedience" — the "spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). So, in other words, because the carnal nature is common to every human, idolatry, then, is a basic tendency of every person ever born.

In simplistic terms, idolatry is making something or someone that to which we look to bring happiness, peace, fulfillment, contentment, and all the things only God is supposed to provide us, which in essence is the definition of a false god.

To put it another way, idolatry is fashioning and forming false gods, or idols, out of one's own vain imaginations. Indeed, idols are really always imaginary, existing solely in the human mind and thoughts. Again by inspiration of the Spirit, in another place, Paul states categorically that those possessing true Spiritual knowledge and understanding "know that there is no such thing as an idol (false god), and that there is no God but one" (1 Cor. 8:4). False gods are false because they really do not exist, except in the mind of the idolater.

Idolatry in actuality then is merely the product of human thinking, manufactured in the factory of the human mind. It is the act of creating an abstract god within the deep, dark void of human reasoning. At bottom, all idolatry is "mind-idolatry," for it is primarily in the mind that all idolatry exists. In a nutshell, the basis of idolatry is what I refer to as "stinkin' thinkin'."

Moreover, the ilk of idolatry which bona fide believers are most guilty of committing even routinely, though unwittingly, is the idolatry of holding to false and contrived ideas about God that in fact are wholly incongruous with what He Himself has revealed in His Word concerning His Divine Nature, Will, and Ways. When it is all distilled down, idolatry is the ultimate form of arrogance and self-righteousness, for it supplants God and His Word, Will, and Way, and puts in His place a false, humanly formed and fashioned god, one made in our own image and after our own likeness, to affirm and hallow our own humanly contrived ideas and concepts. Thus, idolatry, in my view, is the ultimate offense that the human heart can commit against a Holy and Sovereign God.

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), who was the pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Toronto and Chicago, for a number of years was also editor of the CMA's official organ, Alliance Weekly, as well as a prolific author of books. His spiritual acumen was so highly regarded by his colleagues that many esteemed him a twentieth-century prophet. Despite all his prodigious achievements, he was perhaps best known for his personal intimacy with God, and his book, The Knowledge of the Holy (Harper & Row), was a collection of some of his most outstanding messages related to knowing God in personal intimacy. So profound and insightful are his comments regarding the subject of idolatry, as well as exquisitely and eloquently articulated, that they could scarcely be improved upon, making direct quotation the only fitting means of conveyance. The following are excerpts of his commentary, the chronology of which I have taken the liberty of rearranging in order to better serve our purposes here:

"Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it."

"The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. 'When they knew God,' wrote Paul, 'they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.'"

"Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is — in itself a monstrous sin — and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness."

"A god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God."

"Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true."

"Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it."

All false doctrine is, in essence, an assemblage of "wrong ideas about God" and "perverted notions about God," as Tozer put it. How profound and Scriptural is his statement: "Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous," for "polluted waters" is a metaphor evoked in Scripture to represent false teaching. Indeed, false teaching is by no means, as some seem to believe, a harmless or inconsequential phenomenon, but rather polluted waters can be lethal, both in the natural and the spiritual. False teaching, which in essence is substituting human ideas and sophistry for the absolute Truth of God's Mind, in fact IS idolatry.

Idolatry and false teaching are synonymous terms. Idolatry always has associated with it some form of false teaching, and false teaching is always an ilk of idolatry. As Tozer so brilliantly articulated it: "The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true." In other words, the person engaging in idolatry simply contrives his own doctrine concerning spiritual matters and the composition of "truth," and conducts his life based on those determinations even though they are not congruous with the real Truth which emanates from and is defined by God as Truth in His Word.

Over the course of Church history, change within the Church has been a slow—at times agonizingly slow—process. Despite the great strides the Church has made since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 A.D. in ridding false teaching, more yet remains. And false doctrine is far from being the innocuous matter it is viewed as being by many professing believers today. The 21st Century Church needs to accept the responsibility incumbent upon it to point out and repudiate false doctrine of whatever sort and wherever it may be found, for truly false doctrine inherently is spiritual idolatry of the highest order.

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 10/15/99]

[Note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to those pertinences that arose out of that movement.]

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The Danger of Zeal Without Knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Fri, 19 Feb 1999 17:03:00 +0000

A rather ironic and curious characteristic of the idolatry of false teaching is that essentially it is "zeal without knowledge." It is quite common for those caught in the throes of deception and false doctrine to be quite zealous and ardent in their spiritual pursuits. Wherever false teaching is being promulgated, the perpetrators and adherents commonly are fervently dedicated to their church-group and its purposes, beliefs, and goals. In fact, it is this zealousness by participants in aberrant and cult-like religious groups that makes it extremely difficult for concerned observers to: one, fully recognize and realize the existence of error and errancy; two, to take serious the potential for spiritual and psychological injury and ruin; and, three, to recognize the need for and actually effect appropriate remedial action.

Certainly, this is the case with those who are being duped by the fallacious Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines. They are often very zealous and even marginally fanatical in their spiritual pursuits. And, in a day when there is far too little fervency for the things of God, most any of us are understandably reluctant to do anything that might douse the fire of someone who is on fire, ostensibly, for God.

The Apostle Paul, speaking of his fellow countrymen, the Jews, said, "For I bear them witness that they have a ZEAL FOR GOD..." (Rom. 10:2). He was saying that the Jews' zeal for God was genuine and sincere, and certainly no people had more religious zeal than the Jews until then. Nevertheless, their zeal, he went on to say, was "not in accordance with knowledge." They had "zeal without knowledge." Their zeal, though extremely fervent, genuine, and unquestionably sincere, nonetheless, was not founded upon Truth. Continuing, the former Hebrew of Hebrews and Pharisee of Pharisees said:

For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish THEIR OWN, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (vv. 3,4)

How profound and profoundly apropos the issue Paul addresses here is to the matter of idolatrous false teaching in that he specifically juxtaposes "zeal for God" against "the righteousness of God," which actually is referring to "rightstanding with God," or in other words how one obtains rightstanding with God.

When Jesus of Nazareth at the age of thirty was revealed as and took on the role of the Christ, He truly became "THE (only) Way [to God], THE (only) Truth [all spiritual truth, wisdom, and understanding), and THE (only) [Eternal] Life [in communion and fellowship with God]" (Jn. 14:6). From the moment Jesus was revealed as the Christ, the Messiah, the Door into fellowship with the Father, from that very moment, Judaism and the Old Covenant (not to be confused with the Old Testament books of the Bible) was made obsolete. That is to say that from the moment the Christ was manifested, faith in Christ was the ONLY way to rightstanding with God. The absolution of our sins through Jesus' shed blood became the NEW Covenant, the "new and living way" (Heb. 10:20) by which those who believed in Him were granted free and equal access unto and communion with God.

From then on, the Old Covenant, wherein rightstanding with God was attained by strict adherence to the ordinances of the Mosaic Law, was no longer in effect. Thus, the statement: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4). Christ's manifestation meant the end of the law in regard to obtaining righteousness, or rightstanding, with God through it. Now, "everyone who BELIEVES" has rightstanding with God, "by grace... through faith" (Eph. 2:8).

The obsolescence of the Old Covenant and its replacement by the New Covenant does not mean, however, as some ignorantly surmise, that the Truth God revealed in the writings comprising the books of the Old Testament section of the Bible are now null and void. It was not God or His Truth that changed between the Old Covenant era and the New Covenant era, but rather only the WAY we get to God, that is, the way of attaining unto rightstanding with God.

I always find it fascinating and more than a little ironic that in the very last Old Testament Book, Malachi, God reverberantly declares: "For I am the Lord, I change not !" (Mal. 3:6, KJV). I think the Lord strategically planted that statement in that Book for the very purpose of debunking all the religious theorists' claims that somehow He changed between the Old and New Covenants. He did not. As the verse implies, He cannot change, because He is the Sovereign and Perfectly Holy Lord. If God were to change His Nature, which is what He is, which is in turn His Word, He could not be God, for mutability signifies prior imperfection. Yet, He is perfectly perfect, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, without any "shadow of turning."

Because of the perfection and immutability of the Divine Nature, what God said in the Old Testament writings is just as true and trustworthy now in the New Testament age. "Not one word of ALL his good promises have ever failed" — whether they are in New or Old Testament writings, and regardless of what era He said it in. I unabashedly repeat that the only thing that has changed between the Old Testament and the New is the WAY by which we attain rightstanding with God. Otherwise, what He said and established in the Old Testament is still true in the New Testament dispensation.

If anything God said or established in the Old Testament were to have changed, He surely would have told us. Generally speaking, however, God is not given to superfluity. Redundancy is not a requirement in the realm of God, which is to say that it is not mandatory that God reiterate in the New Testament writings something He said in the Old Testament writings in order for it to be effectual in the New Testament Age. Anything He has ever said is forever settled in Heaven; it is immutable Divine Law, unless He changes it, and when He changes something He publishes that change brazenly and unmistakably. And, the implications and applications of this irrefutable assertion are great in a number of important areas of doctrine under debate and in dispute today in which mere human opinion and religious bias and tradition are being exalted by some above the revealed knowledge of God.

Getting back to the main point inherent in the Apostle Paul's allusion to the Jews' "zeal without knowledge," he said, "not knowing about GOD'S righteousness," that is to say, the way God had established for the attaining of rightstanding with Him, which is through faith in Jesus the Messiah, not knowing about that, the Jews sought "to establish THEIR OWN," and "they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." Now this is the ultimate problem with the idolatry of false teaching and indeed every kind of idolatry — it replaces God's method for gaining rightstanding with Him, which method is clearly revealed in His Word, with a contrived and incongruous doctrine which has been fashioned and formed in someone's own human mind. Not knowing about God's righteousness, and not wanting to subject themselves to the specific requisites of God's righteousness, they seek to establish their own. That is precisely what all idolatry is, substituting a false gospel for the true, a false religion for God's method for righteousness, a false god for the One and Only True God, making a god out of one's own religious thoughts and contrived religious methodologies. It is genuine zeal for wanting to attain unto God-likeness, but on one's own terms, without whole surrender and submission unto God Himself and the Way He has established for attainment of that very status.

It is, I understand, difficult to think of zeal as being anything other than a most commendable and desirable trait. But, not always! In fact, there are case stories in the Bible that illustrate very vividly that misplaced zeal can be quite deadly! A prime example is that of King David who with great zealousness for God in attempting to accomplish the extremely noble and virtuous goal of retrieving the Ark of the Covenant and returning it to its proper place of veneration caused one of his most loyal and beloved servants, Uzza, to be struck down dead by God Himself in an outburst of holy wrath, all because David violated certain particulars of God's established ordinance regarding the method for transportation of the Ark. David was full of zeal, and his zeal was not for some worldly or self-aggrandizing achievement, but for THE THINGS OF GOD! Nevertheless, his misdirected zeal got a beloved friend killed and invoked the wrath of God, despite all the pageantry, and pomp and circumstance, as David along with all of Israel were praising and "celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets" (1 Chron. 13:8).

God tells us that the real life incidences that occurred in Old Testament days "happened to them as an example and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor. 10:11). The poignant moral of this story to all of us living at "the ends of the ages" is that as needful and desirable as the fervency of zeal is, zeal, no matter how fervent and fiery, cannot and will not ever supersede the necessity of obedience to God's already established Word, Will, and Ways, that is, His ordinances. Even all that we do for and as an offering unto God, must be done or offered up according to the ordinances, according to His Word, Will, and Way. We cannot do it our own way, and have rightstanding with God. Neither can we seek and serve Him according to our own doctrines for seeking and serving Him, and have rightstanding with Him. When the fleeting vapor of our natural life is over, and we stand before the Righteous Judge to be judged on the basis of our deeds (Rom. 2:6, et al.), faithfulness and obedience to Him will be the standard, not how emotional, fervent, or zealous we were. Zeal never overrides or negates the necessity for obedience of the specific requisites of God's ordinances. It's either HIS Way, or NO way!

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 12/19/99]

Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION, by Dr. Steven Lambert. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to the pertinences associated with that movement.

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Thu, 18 Feb 1999 19:14:00 +0000

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in MY WORD, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will make you FREE." (John 8:31,32; NASB)

It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a YOKE OF SLAVERY. (Gal. 5:1; NASB)

[Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to those pertinences that arose out of that "movement." The content of this article is contextual to the entirety of the book, and is best understood by reading the book. A small portion of the book's content is published in the posted articles listed and linked at the end of this article.]

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that COVER with A COVERING, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into EGYPT [symbol of captivity in Scripture], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh [symbol of Satan and autocratic dictators in Scripture], and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your CONFUSION. For his princes were at Zoan [aka, Goshen, where Pharaoh met with Moses and Aaron; Easton's Bible Dictionary], and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not PROFIT them, nor be an help nor PROFIT, but a shame, and also a reproach. (Isaiah 30:1-5; KJV; emphases and parentheses added)

Before I begin this article, let me emphasize that it is vital that you first read Part 1 of this series which is its foundation.

Albeit, as a preface to this part, I will summarize some of what I stated at the outset of Part 1. To begin with, "Spiritual covering" as theorized by proponents, propagators, and practitioners of these hyper-authoritarian teachings is an absolute MYTH and outright deception! No semblance of the teachings concerning "spiritual covering" exists anywhere within the pages of Scripture. It is a complete fabrication concocted by the originators of these fallacious doctrines as a pretext for facilitation of entirely self-aggrandizing objectives of subjugation, domination, and control.

[For a detailed history of the Shepherding Movement and the genesis of these false doctrines, READ THIS ARTICLE.]

Indeed, what the Discipleship proponents refer to as "spiritual covering" is really "spiritual control." However, even the use of the word "spiritual" in this connection requires some qualification, because the only thing "spiritual" about this unauthorized control is that it is inspired by demon-spirits of deception and error. As I explain in detail in Charismatic Captivation, what the Discipleship version of "spiritual covering" really is, is nothing less than witchcraft or sorcery. When the myth has been thoroughly debunked, as it will be within these pages, it will be clear that this doctrine of "spiritual covering," like all the other aspects of the Shepherdship heresy, is a patently false "doctrine of demons" being manifested in these last days precisely in accordance with Holy Prophecy of Scripture which foretells of deception such as this being promulgated by demons in the last days, leading to many falling away from the Lord into apostasy:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of LIARS seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. (1 Tim. 4:1,2)

Spiritual Mediators
One of the foundational tenets of these fallacious hyper-authoritarian teachings is the matter of "absolute submission." Today, some thirty years after the Shepherding Movement teachings were soundly debunked and their originators publicly discredited, Neo-Pentecostal preachers and teachers for the most part are careful not to use that specific terminology. However, in the case of the majority of their audiences and adherents it is not necessary to expressly allude to the matter anyway, because the essence of the concept, as I repeatedly indicate throughout my writings on the topic, has been infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the entire Neo-Pentecostal Movement. Not to say that the tentacles of these deceptive teachings have not reached into Pentecostal and non-Pentecostal sects and denominations as well, for they certainly have. Even Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, and other denominations have been polluted by the poisoned waters of the Shepherding doctrines in the form of the widely proliferated "Alpha Course," over several decades now.

The premise of "absolute submission" is predicated on the hypothesis that the spiritual leaders are in effect (though most Discipleship teaching adherents would emphatically deny the attribution) "spiritual mediators" between God and their followers, who assume the role of hearing from God on the behalf of their followers. According to the theory, the followers are spiritually deficient and inferior to the chain of leaders who are over them, and thus basically incapable of seeking and hearing from God for themselves and cultivating on-going communion and fellowship with God, so they need a human "mediator"—someone who supposedly has a more elite status and standing with God—to be a priestly "go-between" between "the stupid sheep" and God. The hypothesis is that the leaders are much more spiritual than the people, and therefore more capable of hearing from God what is best for their followers. By the way, if that premise sounds familiar to you, you are right, because in essence it is virtually identical to the theories upon which the surrogate priesthood and papal system of Catholicism were based, which, totally supplanted and negated the personal priesthood of believers in the Medieval Church. [Read Chapter 3 of Charismatic Captivation, for a revealing dissertation concerning the Nicolaitans and that sects' connection with the genesis of the "Universal (Catholic) Church."]

This whole matter of "spiritual mediators" is so totally ludicrous and such a complete affront to the truth of the personal priesthood of believers that every knowledgeable believer should be thoroughly disgusted and totally outraged at such an idiotic, outlandish, and even blasphemous notion. The Bible explicitly says: "There is one God, and ONE mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all...." (1 Tim. 2:5). There is never, ever to be any "spiritual mediators" between God and men, except the Christ—Jesus Himself. The Man with the nail-prints in His wrists is the only true spiritual mediator between God and Man. All the rest are pretentious impostors! Jesus is the only Man (human) who ever lived a perfectly sinless life, which was the requisite enabling Him to become the Spotless Lamb of God, the propitiatory sacrifice, typified by the oblational sacrificial lambs, which the Jewish high priests offered up for the sins of the people century after century.

So also was Jesus the true Spiritual High Priest, who those centuries of natural high priests who offered up the sacrificial lambs year after year represented. Those that came before Him were the types and the shadows, the mere "eikons" (Gr.) (reflections) of the real. Jesus was the real, the source of the reflection. He was the Image that the types and shadows reflected. He was the true Sacrificial Lamb who took away the sins of the world. And, He was the true Spiritual High Priest (Heb. 3:1), who offered up the true Sacrificial Lamb—His own sinless life—as a ransom for all, once and for all.

And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He (Christ Jesus), on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those (O.T. Jewish) high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did ONCE FOR ALL when He offered HIMSELF. (Heb. 7:23-28)

...we have such a High Priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister in the sanctuary, and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. (Heb. 8:1,2)

But when CHRIST appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:11,12)

The point is that the true High Priest (i.e., Christ) has now entered into the true Holy of Holies into the actual presence of God as the ultimate and only effectual Mediator on our behalf (Heb. 9:23,24). He lives evermore in the presence of God as our Intercessor (Heb. 7:25), having appeased His righteous wrath, having taken upon Himself the punishment due us, and having canceled out our debt of transgressions which separated and disfellowshipped us from God. Hence, since Christ Jesus has accomplished the ultimate on our behalf before God, and perpetually lives in the presence of God as our spiritual High Priest and Intercessor, and since He has made peace for us between ourselves and God forevermore (Rom. 5:1), we hardly need human mediators between us and God.

His once-and-for-all sacrifice and entrance into the true Holy of Holies has granted us all equal access, free access, bold and confident access (Eph. 3:12), not only into the Holy Place, but also even behind the veil into the Holy of Holies, for each of us, even unto the very Throne of Grace itself, that is to say, the very Throne of "the God of all Grace" (1 Pet. 5:10). Of this access we are invited to avail ourselves freely, not coweringly but boldly, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16, KJV).

To suggest that any human could do this for us as a mediator between us and God is not only preposterous and absurd, but also an affront to Jesus Himself. It is blasphemy! Those who pose and interpose themselves as mediators between believers and God are fortunate that God has not struck them down dead! Indeed, I believe this very thing will happen in the days ahead. God is now issuing fair warning! If Uzza, the loyal friend and servant of David was struck dead by God for merely touching the religious icon of God's presence, and if Ananias and Sapphira were struck down dead by God for having lied to the Holy Spirit, how much severer punishment would one deserve who is so blatantly blasphemous as to purport to be the spiritual mediator between God and men?

[To read how this matter of "absolute authority" and "spiritual covering" has been used as a premise for sexual authoritarian abuse by unscrupulous Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal church leaders, in particular, read the full article.]

Ultimate Accountability
You see, when taken to their fullest extent, what these false teachings culminate in, is an infringement upon the Biblical fact of ultimate accountability to God, which is to say that in the end everyone is accountable to God, and to God alone, for his/her conduct and for the substance of the life he/she lived. Ultimately, it is to an Almighty and All-Knowing God that we must give account for the totality of our lives. Ultimately, each believer is accountable only to the authority of God Himself, and not to any supposed "spiritual authority" of men, whether it be an individual or a humanly-constructed hierarchy.

This Truth and its veracity is unequivocally and wholly supported by the preponderance of Scripture, and proof-texts corroborating this absolute fact are so numerous that to quote them all would require a separate volume of its own. But, there is one passage that states it about as directly and succinctly as it can be stated, which is, Romans 14:12: "So then EACH OF US shall GIVE ACCOUNT of HIMSELF to GOD."

Moreover, the verses that precede this particular passage are also extremely enlightening and germane to this point regarding ultimate accountability unto God. In verse four, Paul poses the consummate question to which every believer would be well-advised to give careful heed: "Who are you to judge the servant of another?"

To judge someone else, it is imperative to understand, by its very nature, means that the person who is sitting in the seat of the judge is of a greater status, standing, authority, and behavioral stature, than the one who is being judged. Yet, clearly an overwhelming preponderance of Scripture teaches that as Jesus stated, "You (all believers) are all on the same level as brothers" (Mat. 23:8; L.B.; parenthesis added by author). As established repeatedly throughout this book, in the Kingdom of God there is absolute parity among believers. There is no such a thing as "big me, little you" in the Kingdom of God. Oh, to be sure, in real life, demonstration of carnal attitudes of ascendancy and arrogance over fellows is just as common among purporting believers as it is in the world. But, that is not the way it really is in the Kingdom of God and from God's perspective. Such fleshly attitudes are of the category of the "evil passions and desires" which every believer must crucify if he is going to show forth evidence or fruit that he has been genuinely Born Again and been made a bona fide partaker of the attributes of the Divine Nature (Gal. 5:24; 2 Pet. 2:4).

Notice also in the verse cited (Rom. 14:4) the phrase "servant of another." This makes it abundantly clear that every believer is a bond-servant of God, not of any man. Even when of our own volition we lay down our lives to serve others, we do so because in so doing the Person we are ultimately serving is God, not even the people we are serving, though they are the ostensible recipients of our service. The verse continues by saying: "To HIS OWN MASTER he stands or falls; and stand he will, for THE LORD is able to make him stand." In saying, " THE LORD is able to make him stand," the passage identifies the "master" of the believer as being the Lord Jesus Himself, and not any human.

Verses seven through nine of the same chapter in Romans go on to clearly indicate that every believer "belongs" ultimately to the Lord, and thus is not the subject of any human being in terms of ultimate accountability for his or her life:

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live FOR THE LORD, or if we die, we die FOR THE LORD; therefore whether we live or die, WE ARE THE LORD'S. For to this end Christ died and lived, that HE might be LORD both of the dead and of the living.

But, the next verse, verse ten, really puts it all into proper perspective by reminding us that none of us have the right to take unto ourselves the status of judge over our fellows with regard to the final analysis, assessment, and adjudication of their lives, as well as the fact that none of us have attained unto the transcendent or elite status required to grant us the right to regard a fellow believer with contempt or condescension, or regard any fellow believer, who is also a joint-heir, that is, equal-heir, with Christ, as in any way inferior or "subjectable" to us so as to be their judges, because we are not the judges; rather, we all are the "judgees," ourselves who will be judged by "the righteous Judge" (2 Tim. 4:8):

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? FOR WE SHALL ALL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF GOD. (Rom. 14:10)

Hebrews 12:23 refers to "THE Judge of ALL," which is none other than God Himself. Hebrews 10:30 plainly tells us: "THE LORD will judge His people," which means that ultimate accounting and the final adjudication of our lives is relegated to the Lord alone. The reason for this is simple: perfect and perfectly righteous and just judgment requires omniscience and infinite knowledge and wisdom, which we, in our human estate of extremely finite knowledge, do not possess. Only God is capable of judging "the thoughts and intentions of the heart" with perfect knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, for it is to His eyes, the manifold eyes of the Spirit, alone that all that we are is "open and laid bare" (Heb. 4:12,13). He who knows us most is the one who can judge us best. No one knows us—who we really are, the totality of our constitution and the reasons behind it all, good or bad—like God knows us. Amazingly, God is the one who KNOWS us BEST and yet LOVES us the MOST.

Thus, we see the incontrovertible and unequivocal truth that ultimately every believer is accountable to God and not to any mere mortal. As I have said elsewhere in this volume, only the one with the nail prints in His hands is the one who has been found worthy to be our Lord, Master, and Savior. This is precisely the import of James' statement wherein speaking of Jesus He says: "There is ONLY ONE Lawgiver and Judge, THE ONE WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE and to destroy, but who are you to judge your neighbor?" (Jas. 4:12).

So, dear saint of God, the next time someone tries to "pull rank" on you, intimidate, or subjugate you with some humanly contrived, imaginary, unauthorized, invalid, Scripturally-prohibited, and non-existent, claim of pseudo-authority, ask that person to stretch forth his or her hands, and look to see if there are nail-holes in those hands. If not, just have a good chuckle, turn, walk away, and simply forget it! Because that person is not YOUR Lord or YOUR Master! He's just another pretender and imposter—false Christ—motivated by an antichrist spirit! Then PRAISE JESUS—the One who is able to save and destroy to the uttermost—FOREVER! HE ALONE is Lord!

[For more on the detrimental effects of submitting yourself under the spiritual coverings of men, I urge you to read The Curses of Unauthorized Covenants.]

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 02/17/1999]

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Steven Lambert) — Wed, 17 Feb 1999 19:07:00 +0000

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in MY WORD, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH will make you FREE." (John 8:31,32; NASB)

It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us FREE; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a YOKE OF SLAVERY. (Galatians 5:1; NASB)

Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that COVER with A COVERING, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into EGYPT [symbol of captivity in Scripture], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh [symbol of Satan and autocratic dictators in Scripture], and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your CONFUSION. For his princes were at Zoan [aka, Goshen, where Pharaoh met with Moses and Aaron; Easton's Bible Dictionary], and his ambassadors came to Hanes. They were all ashamed of a people that could not PROFIT them, nor be an help nor PROFIT, but a shame, and also a reproach. (Isaiah 30:1-5; KJV; emphases and parentheses added)

The second primary conceptual error on which the heretical hyper-authoritarian Discipleship/Shepherding doctrines are established, is the matter of "spiritual covering." Indeed, so-called "spiritual covering" is the very centerpiece of these wholly unBiblical teachings and the authoritarian abuse they engender, which is absolutely endemic in Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal (Charismatic, "third wave," and New Apostolic Reformation) sects. Over the course of the 20th Century it became institutionally infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of these groups, meaning in their protodenomination and network organizations. Virtually none of those in existence today are free from the influence and attitudes of domination and control over their adherents. It is witchcraft of the highest order for the basest of motivations—mammon—the love of money and self-aggrandizement.

Let me begin by stating plainly and directly: "spiritual covering" as theorized by the Discipleship theosophy is an absolute MYTH. No semblance of the Shepherding teaching version of "spiritual covering" exists anywhere within the pages of Scripture. "Spiritual covering," in the vein it is presented by proponents and propagators of these hyper-authoritarian teachings, is an outright deception! It is a complete fabrication concocted by the originators of these fallacious doctrines as a supposed pretext for facilitation of entirely self-aggrandizing objectives of subjugation, domination, and control.

[For a detailed history of the Shepherding Movement, READ THIS CHAPTER.]

Indeed, what the Discipleship proponents refer to as "spiritual covering" is really "spiritual control." However, even the use of the word "spiritual" in this connection requires some qualification, because the only thing "spiritual" about this unauthorized control is that it is inspired by demon-spirits of deception and error. As we shall discuss later in Chapter Nine, what the Discipleship version of "spiritual covering" really is, is nothing less than witchcraft or sorcery. When the myth has been thoroughly debunked, as it will be within these pages, it will be clear that this doctrine of "spiritual covering," like all the other aspects of the Shepherdship heresy, is a patently false "doctrine of demons" being manifested in these last days precisely in accordance with Holy Prophecy of Scripture which foretells of deception such as this being promulgated by demons in the last days, leading to many falling away from the Lord into apostasy:

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of LIARS seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.(1 Tim. 4:1,2)

Proofing the Proof-text
Discipleship proponents point to a particular Pauline dissertation found in the Eleventh Chapter of First Corinthians as the primary purported proof-text for their concept of "spiritual covering." It will soon be evident, however, that, as is typical of the other aspects of Discipleship errors, the assertions made on the basis of these verses are the product of blatant and overt perversion, distortion, misrepresentation, and misapplication of the true import and intent of the passage. The unfortunate effect of this corruption of Canon is essentially the same as that which inured unto the Galatians, which was that they became guilty of "deserting" Christ for a different "christ" and a different gospel:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ; for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and who want to DISTORT the gospel of Christ.(Gal. 1:6)

The following is the passage from which the concept of "spiritual covering," as well as several other assertions made by Discipleship proponents, is extrapolated. Since it will be a basis for much of this discussion, it has been set in verse format for easier reference. Also, I have added some explanations which appear in italics and parentheses, to assist in understanding the true import of these verses.

First Corinthians 11:2-16:

Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.

But I want you to understand that Christ is the Head of every man, and the man

is the head of a

woman

and God is the Head of Christ.

Every MAN who has something on his Head

while praying or prophesying, disgraces his Head

But every woman who has her head uncovered

while praying or prophesying, disgraces her head (her husband); for she is one and the same with her whose head is shaved

For if a woman does not cover her head

, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.

For a man ought NOT to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman

is the glory of man

For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man;

for indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.

Therefore the woman ought to have authority on her head, because of the

angels.

However, in the Lord, neither is woman independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman; and all things originate from God.

Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with head uncovered?

Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair

, it is a dishonor to him,

but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her? For her hair is given to her for A COVERING (a

protection)

But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God.

Now I don't want to be unkind, but in my opinion a person must be totally brainwashed to read this text and in all sincerity and earnestness conclude it says what Discipleship proponents and adherents assert that it says. Indeed, this text has been used as a premise for a number of pretty silly and bizarre notions, ranging from the role of women in the church all the way to the assertion that God is saying here that women are supposed to wear little doilies on their heads when they attend church. So let's examine this passage, and see what it really says and what it does not say.

Pertinent Peculiarities of the Language
First of all, an extremely vital fact to keep in mind in all Bible study and interpretation, and one which I must take a moment to point out here at the very outset of our scrutiny of this text, is that the Greek language, in which most of the New Testament was written originally, did not have a specific word for "husband" and "wife" as in the English language. Instead, the word for husband is the word for "man," and the word for "wife" is the word for "woman." The only way to determine whether the reference is to the male gender class or to the office of husband, or likewise to the female gender class or the office of wife, is by deciphering the intent of the context. This fact is absolutely critical to the particular passage we are examining here and to properly evaluating and understanding its import.

So, with this in mind, careful scrutiny of the context of these verses on the backdrop of the whole of Scripture, leads to the unequivocal and incontrovertible conclusion that the words used here which are translated in many English versions as "man" and "woman" really should be "husband" and "wife." Validation of that is inherent in the fact that the principles evoked in this passage are limited in application to the husband and wife relationship. They are NOT applicable in the context of general interrelations between men and women, but rather only apply in the sphere of the husband and wife relationship.

Identifying the Subject and Scope
Once these peculiarities of the language are understood, the next matter of utmost importance is identifying the subject and scope of the passage we are examining. For reasons that shall become evident, it is vital to understand that the clear and unmistakable subject of this passage is the matter of Domestic Divine Order, that is to say, the order of authority existing among husbands and wives and their children, or to say it yet another way, the government operable within the structure of the FAMILY unit. "Domestic Authority" is the exclusive focus as well as the limits of the scope of this passage. The aspects and applications of the authority addressed in these verses are limited to the purview of that particular ilk of authority, and cannot be universally applied to other types of authority.

Recognizing the true focus and scope of this text is crucial to comprehending its import. Not recognizing these parameters, or blatant disregard of them, whichever may be the case, has been a primary factor resulting in the formulation of the fallacious assertions adamantly proclaimed and staunchly defended by Discipleship proponents supposedly based on this passage. To be specific, the matter of "spiritual covering" is the heart of the issue. And indeed, there is a type of spiritual covering that is addressed in these verses. However, what is critical is that, as stated already, the spiritual covering that is discussed in this context is NOT Ecclesiastical Authority, that is to say, Governmental Authority within the Church. Rather, Domestic Authority is the clear and unequivocal focus of Paul's dissertation here, which the Apostle makes evident in verse three by specifically identifying the topic of this portion of his letter and by expressing explicitly what it is he wants the readers to understand: "But I want you to understand that CHRIST is the Head of every man, and the MAN (HUSBAND) is the head of a WOMAN (his WIFE), and GOD is the Head of Christ."

Another way to characterize the focus of this passage, which the enbolded portions of this verse bring out, is: "spiritual headship." However, the propensity of some to "exceed that which is written" has resulted in the misconstruction and misapplication of this perfectly valid truth, and the manufacturing of a kind of so-called "headship" based purely in human imagination without any Scriptural foundation whatsoever. In point of fact, the only valid ilk of "spiritual headship" or "spiritual covering" there is, and the only one which is supported by the Word of God, is that which is being addressed here, which is the "spiritual headship" and "spiritual covering" the husband provides for his own wife as the God-appointed representative of Christ within the family unit. In no way, however, does this passage contain any evidence or corroboration of the sort of "spiritual covering" Discipleship proponents allege is provided by a shepherd to his followers. To extrapolate from this passage a pretext for some sort of "headship" interposable by "spiritual leaders" over subordinate believers is an act of gross distortion, convolution, and misrepresentation of the Word of God, as well as an act of blatant and extreme irresponsibility.

CHRIST—the Only Spiritual Covering for Every Man
Now as I stated initially, ecclesiastical authority is decidedly not the focus of this passage. Indeed, the only mention of the matter of ecclesiastical authority occurs in oblique references in verses four and seven, which actually state the very opposite of what the Discipleship/Shepherdship proponents purport the verses say and the very opposite of the assertions they cite the verses as a proof-text for:

Every MAN who has something on his Head

while praying or prophesying, disgraces his Head

For a MAN ought NOT to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman

is the glory of man

In verse four, Paul specifically states that, juxtaposed to the married woman, who must have a covering of spiritual authority, i.e., a spiritual "head," which role is fulfilled by her husband, any man who covers his Head with a "spiritual covering"—a human, surrogate, intermediary "head"—is bringing reproach, dishonor, and disgrace to his Head, because, as Paul indicates repeatedly in this text, the man's Head is Christ Himself. Thus, to characterize the import of the text in another, forthright fashion: in this passage, the Spirit is expressly prohibiting human, surrogate, intermediary spiritual "headship" in the case of MEN, in that Christ Himself is the Head, or "spiritual covering" "of every man" who is truly Born Again and has truly submitted to the Lordship of Christ over his life.

Notice also the phrase "while praying or prophesying." Praying and prophesying are the spiritual activities and functions in which believers are to engage. This phrase gives qualification to this statement, making its import to be that it is in the realm of spiritual activities and endeavors in particular that a man is NOT to have another human being as his "head," or as a "covering," for that role and function is to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus alone. Christ alone is qualified and capable of fulfilling that crucial role and function.

This is vital to the matter of the Discipleship error, because this has been one of the areas of greatest excess and abuse, in that many so-called "spiritual leaders" (especially laymen) in these in-house "chains of command" became extremely caught up in their newly acquired (albeit, illegitimate) authority, for which they were not properly grounded or adequately developed or sufficiently mature spiritually to properly handle, but which they nonetheless began to wield and intrusively interpose into the lives of their "subordinates," including their most private, personal, and even intimate choices and decisions. The outlandish and totally false hypothesis was that each of the multi-levels of "spiritual leaders" over the peonic, subjugated, and supposedly inferior believer were his "spiritual heads" and "spiritual coverings," and whatever communication or correction God desired to relate to the believer, He would relay through one of these surrogate "heads," and so-called "confirmation" of the validity and veracity of the communication would manifest in the form of unanimous "agreement" among all these "heads." Theoretically, if just one of the "heads" in the chain of "heads" did not have "a witness" for the matter, that meant the communication was not from or of God.

This "no witness" nonsense became a primary mechanism of control, manipulation, domination, and other more nefarious activities, in an array of circumstances ranging from preventing members from leaving the church or group, to sexually-oriented abuse under the color of spiritual authority. The gravely damaging effect of this absurd and wholly false theosophy and system of religious enslavement is well captured in the quoted impassioned complaint of a former member of the Discipleship Movement responding to Bob Mumford's attempted conciliation with disjoined former followers:

"Saying I'm sorry wasn't enough....We had been taught that the men who led us somehow heard from God better than we did. Even after we left the movement there was that hidden fear that they might be right and we were somehow less of a Christian and had failed God by not being totally obedient to them." (Mumford Repents of Discipleship Errors, Charisma & Life, February 1990, pp. 15,16)

Though we are certainly to avail ourselves of the ministry God disseminates through Fivefold ministers, and though we are to maintain a compliant and cooperative attitude toward them, and treat them with due honor and respect, no mere human is ever the "head" or "spiritual covering" of any other man, especially; or woman, for that matter, because "spiritual covering" exists and is effectual only in the relationship of the husband to his own WIFE—no other woman. In other words, even a Fivefold minister—apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher—is the spiritual "head" of only ONE woman on this planet—his own WIFE (if he is married)! That, my friend, is it! FURTHERMORE, a Fivefold minister is the spiritual "head" of absolutely NO MAN! I cannot state it any more succinctly or directly than that.

[For more on the detrimental effects of submitting yourself under the spiritual coverings of men, I urge you to read The Curses of Unauthorized Covenants.]

[Original Post Date on Real Truth Digest E-zine: 02/17/1999]

[Editor's note: This article is adapted from the book, CHARISMATIC CAPTIVATION. The book exposes the widespread problem of authoritarian abuse in Neo-Pentecostal church-groups, and explains how it became infused into the very fabric, foundation, and functions of the Neo-Pentecostal church arising out of a false movement known as the Discipleship/Shepherding Movement (1970-77). References to "Discipleship" or "Shepherding" (and variables) doctrines, teachings, proponents and participants, and so forth, allude to those pertinences that arose out of that "movement." The content of this article is contextual to the entirety of the book, and is best understood by reading the book. A small portion of the book's content is published in the posted articles listed and linked at the end of this article.]

Charismatic Captivation — Get Print Book or Ebook

Real Truth Digest

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit & How To Receive It

Cessationism Refuted

The Curse Of Unauthorized Covenants

The Purview of Apostolic Authority

Tricks Only; No Treats!

Idolatry of Trusting in Riches

The Deceitfulness of Riches

Poverty vs. Prosperity Gospel (Part 2)

Poverty vs. Prosperity Gospel (Part 1)

The Consequences of Covetousness

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 4)

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 3)

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 2)

Balancing The Scales of Unity (Part 1)

The Invalidity of the Office of "Bishop"

Applying the Berean Principle:"Examining the Scripture...to see if these things be so"

The Church Jesus is Buildingis Founded Upon Apostolic Authority

Similarity of Nicolaitan and Discipleship Heresies

Jesus' Disdain for the Nicolaitan Deeds and Doctrines

Are We Heading Toward Another Corporate Apostasy?

The Encouraging Wife

Spiritual Idolatry

The Danger of Zeal Without Knowledge

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 2)

The Myth of Spiritual Covering (Part 1)

Applying the Berean Principle:
"Examining the Scripture...to see if these things be so"

The Church Jesus is Building
is Founded Upon Apostolic Authority