828 Ministries Weekend Devotional Taking Back The Charismata From the Charismaniacs December 27, 2014 Snippet From Devotional: Charismata is a fancy word for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts divinely given by God to His people. Gifts given to further the business of the kingdom. Gifts given to bring glory to God. Gifts that are most certainly in operation today. I say this as a backdrop to a conversation I had online yesterday in responding to an article on Charisma News, where a false prophetess was claiming God showed her the destruction of what she referred to as Americas holiest city, Nashville. Putting aside her apparent ignorance about the word holy and about the nature of Nashville, or any American city for that matter, her argument was lost when she revealed who she looked up to in her sphere of Christianity. She cited the collective work of three renowned heretics and false prophets - James Goll, General Cindy Jacobs, and Chuck Pierce. Goll espouses contemplative spirituality and claims angels regularly visit him. Jacobs prophesied at the beginning of this year that because seven is the number of completion that 2014 would be the year of double blessing for everyone who happened to be listening to her. Pierce has claimed his prayers led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up. What was interesting was the response I received when pointing out the falseness. It was from another reader who assumed I must be a non-charismatic cessationist. Cessationists believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not in operation today. I thought it was amusing the assumptions were so wrong since I actually am a Pentecostal Charismatic. It was amusing to think that for many people, if you correctly point out falseness today, you must not believe in the gifts of the Spirit! That if you stand for biblical truth, you must be a cessationist! That was when it hit me that the Charismaniacs have stolen the Charismata from the people of God. They have made it so ridiculously fringe to believe in the gifts of the Spirit that it even drove otherwise sound biblical teachers like John MacArthur into cessationism. Unfortunately for MacArthur, the bible simply does not support the notion that the gifts ceased after the Apostolic Age ended with the death of John. The majority of the writings on the gifts occurred mere decades before Johns death and the Bible would not be formed until centuries later. The math simply flies in the face of an all knowing, omnipresent God. No beloved, the gifts are still in operation; they are just abused to the point many wish they were not. Because Goll, Jacobs and Pierce are not outliers. They are mainstream within the false signs and lying wonders movement that has stolen the Charismata from mainstream Christianity. Like Goll, they all usually claim some form of divine impartation and/or visitation. They hear from the Lord so much they apparently are on His speed dial. Todd Bentley claims many visitations from an angel he calls Emma. This is the same Bentley who routinely kicks and punches congregants in need of healing, claiming the Holy Spirit told him to do so. Bill Johnson claims he is so close to heaven that angel feathers randomly start falling from the sky when he is out at a diner eating. Jesus Cultures Kim Walker-Smith claims two waking visitations from Jesus, during one of which she was whisked away to the Throne Room, where she claims to have met the Father face to face, despite the fact that the Bible says she would die if that were actually so. Johnsons Bethel Church claims the random appearance of glory clouds filled with gold dust and has claimed angels have left gemstones in the sanctuary for no apparent reason. Mike Bickle of IHOP claims angel visitations led him to start his ministry. Beloved the list just goes on and on and on. Locally I saw this year a false prophet randomly sputtering out sentence fragments as he was clearly practicing clairvoyance over peoples lives and they were completely unaware. Are all of these people lying? Well, considering the monetary gain for most of them that remains a distinct possibility but let us assume for the moment they all believe what they are saying. That still leaves a frightening alternative for us to consider: 828ministries/articles/Taking-Back-the-Charismata-by-Anthony-Wade-Christianity_Faith_Religion_Spirit-141227-176.html
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 16:19:25 +0000
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