Yesterday I said many fear the power of God because of what they may have seen or heard in the charismatic circles. So many in the church have rejected the word of God because of the abuses of power they have heard or seen. Many churches even have written in their belief statements they don’t believe as the charismatics do. The problem is there is no discernment to tell between God’s power and satan’s power in either the non-charismatic and the charismatic. Many just associate signs and wonders with the demonic. Jesus Himself was accused of being Beelzebul. Matthew 10:4 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” Matthew 12:22 “Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” 25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” This mentality in the church that all signs, wonders, healings and casting out demons are demonic is ludicrous but having said that you need to know the difference.
satan has had a heyday in the charismatic movement. They thought speaking in tongues was a sign of the Holy Spirit filling them but they were deceived into believing gibberish was a tongue. The manifestations did not look like what Jesus did. As time went on it got worse and worse until you had movements like the Toronto Blessing and the continued move of that false spirit in places like Bethel Redding, California. You had slaying in the spirit, gold dust, gold fillings, angel feathers drunkenness, laughter and barking to name a few. satan has also deceived the non-charismatic church into believing there is no power for today. Either way, from the MacArthurs to the Hinns whether non-charismatic or charismatic, Jesus said Luke 21:8 “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.” Matthew 24:24 “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.” Many in the church have been fooled by powerfully organized churches. Matthew 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Paul said in Acts 20:29 “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 11:1 “I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” This was already happening as Paul also said in Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Peter said, 2 Peter 2:1 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”
We had been warned over and over yet the church refused to listen and was greatly deceived and continues to be. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Not only has the church been deceived but it is also under delusion for unbelief. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” We also have antichrists everywhere. 1 John 2:18 “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.” We are near the end of the last hour so we had better get this right. This pandemic has exposed the powerless church. From the charismatic to the non-charismatic who all say they are filled with the Holy Spirit, have no power. This pandemic has made many prophets false and made them look like fools yet people still follow them. This is part of the delusion. At this point in time God is not moving in power. If you listen to some, God gives them regular visions, miracles are supposedly happening but not as described in scripture. Yes every so often there is healing but be very careful as the power must look like Jesus as described in scripture. satan has made a mockery of the church.
Peter tells us what will happen to these false teachers. 2 Peter 2:17 “These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
The good news is God will return to us when we return to Him. Ezra 9:8 “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.” Isaiah 54:7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. 8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.” So there is hope for us. When God turns His face back to us that will mean His presence will be among us once again and we will be clothed with power once again.
Tomorrow I am going to look briefly at some Old Testament signs and wonders to show that the miracles Jesus did was just a continuation of what was already happening. Those miracles were then to continue in His disciples as scripture clearly shows us.
