Step 1. Many Charismatics claim to be enriched by speaking in tongues, making prophesies, words of knowledge, casting out of demons and sign gifts etc. They may have a greater interest in the Bible, prayer, and witnessing. How could such positive results not be from God?
Step 2. Any military strategist knows that an enemy will often give up ground in order to gain a greater victory (Joshua 8: 15-21). Satan is not afraid of prayer, Bible study or bold witness that is contrary to the Word of God, especially when it promotes error and advances his own kingdom. Satan does strongly oppose genuine prayer, Bible study and gospel preaching when it is done Biblically and in the filling of the Holy Spirit. Satan is happy to pull back opposition to Bible study, prayer and witness, if he can woo the believer away from Bible decision-making and into experiential decision-making (which is Satan's greater sought after victory).
Step 3. If a believer moves into experiential decision-making, Satan can withdraw his opposition to Bible study, prayer and witness. The believer then attributes his advancement in prayer, Bible study and witness to his new tongues experience. This serves to lure the believer deeper into his experiential decision-making and hence further away from 100% Bible authority only. Hence, by giving some ground, Satan leads believers into greater deception. The believer more strongly clings to non-Biblical experiences.
Step 4. The believer who accepts sign and revelatory gifts is replacing Biblical authority with experiential authorities. Interpretation of verses becomes heavily weighted towards vindicating his experiences.
Step 5. People are genuinely saved, they in turn accept the signs and wonders message, and the deception grows. The basis for Christian fellowship is no longer the Bible, but a common experience such as tongues. That is why Roman Catholics, liberal protestants, some evangelicals, and heretics unite in ecumenical charismatic fellowship. Tongues causes divisions in a church, just as it did at the Tower of Babel.
Many Charismatics are not completely certain that their prophecies are from the Lord. Many are troubled at healings that relapse. Many Charismatics say that they are Spirit-filled yet live inconsistent lives.
Satan's contest in Eden was to steal Adam's loyalty away from the Word of God ("Yea, hath God saith?") and for him to live independent of God and His Word.
DO CHRISTIANS KNOW WHEN THEY ARE BEING MISLEAD?
No, not always. In Matthew 16:21-23, Peter in expressing his love for Christ, was deceived by Satan in trying to stop Christ from going to the cross. Jesus looked past Peter's love and saw Satan leading Peter away from the revealed will of God.
- With the heart one receives or trusts Christ for salvation.
- With the will one obeys Christ.
- With the mind one abides in Christ.
Will means: Action, commitment.
- Many Christians spend hours in Christian bookshops looking for a book to give them the secret of victorious living. If they can't find the power of God in a book, they will seek it in an experience.
- The goal of the Christian life is to remain Spirit-filled.
ARE THERE ANY BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF SATAN GIVING UP SPIRITUAL GROUND IN ORDER TO GAIN SPIRITUAL ADVANTAGES?
- Satan offered Christ the world's kingdoms in exchange for Christ's worship. Matthew 4: 8-10.
- Acts 16:16-18 The demonized damsel proclaimed that Paul's team were servants of the Most High God who proclaimed the way of salvation. Why? So that the gospel would be associated with the occult.
Living the Christian life is described by: "Warfare", "fight", "run the race", "yield not", "work out", and "press towards".
The Christian life is a disciplined life of constant vigilance, taking up the cross daily. There are no shor tcuts to instant spirituality.
Roman Catholic Charismatics have greater zeal for Mary, Mass, and Papacy, and praying to saints, etc. If Satan can achieve this, he will stop opposition to Charismatic churches so that apparent growth occurs.
7 comments:
How true, how true. Our children have been drawn into one of these charismatic churches believing that they are all being spoken to by the Lord. They had a brief time of prosperity but in the last year, the church has taken everything from them. If only we had been aware earlier, we might have been able to prevent it. They are now living with their "spiritual" parents and we feel that it is more of a commune than something that will help them get back on their feet. We cannot get them to listen to us at all. If only, if only we had found your blog earlier.
Well, this has been a most interesting series of blogs. We are intrigued at how so many people get taken in by something that is so obviously incorrect. Are these people all just naive or easily lead down the garden path to these charlatans? Something really needs to be done and we feel that you have a great deal to say on the subject so will be following your blog with great interest into 2011.
We are absolutely dumbfounded by what we are reading about Pentecostal/Charismatics here in your blog. It is obvious that there has been a lot of research into the articles; however, nonetheless, it is still appalling that this can be going on in what some people view as main-stream Christian churches. After spending several hours reviewing your blog, we have come to realize that we are in a fringe-church -- not all the way down the road but we do have the speaking in tongues and the slain in the spirit actions going on. We thank you for taking the time to do all this research. We will be looking for a new church.
What a relevant topic for today! We spent Christmas Eve with our family at their church (which I am now sure is demon-possessed) and both my wife and I were afraid at the heaviness and despair that seemed to ooze from everyone in attendance at the service. We've never been involved with "speaking in tongues" and certainly not on Christmas Eve. We hadn't seen our children for over a year as they had moved out state with my son-in-law's job and our conversations with them had not indicated to us what they were involved in. We are praying that their eyes will be opened before it is too late. We did try to talk to them but who wants to ruin Christmas with religious disagreements. We will continue to research some of the books and authors that you have mentioned so that we can be prepared when they come home for my wife's birthday in February. Thank you.
We were so fortunate to have found your blog when we were researching Kenneth Copeland. We have several friends who have gotten involved with splinter churches and did not realize how wide-spread this issue is. We have sent your link to our friends and we are hopefully praying that this will cause them to see some reason. Do you have any literature on how to help them extricate themselves from this?
How sad to read the comments from the people who have been drawn into these fringe churches. We were so appalled when we read the list of false teachers here and realized that even though we aren't actually involved in one of these churches we were watching some of these T.V. charlatans for years. Thank you for opening our eyes.
Bah! These people really have no idea what they are bringing into their lives and it is NOT from God. They have opened themselves up to demons and ultimately Satan. My sister-in-law and family were part of a "church" that insisted that all members do some unmentionable things with the end result being she became so despondent over it, that she committed suicide. We cannot yet get over her loss.
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