There is a formula that can be used to discern sheep from goats and charlatans from saints. This formula is based upon the scriptural principles we have learned from our study of Faith, Sin, and Grace.
First, true faith has its origin from the divine which causes us to believe in the Lord and do God's will. Second, false faith has its origin from the devilish and causes us to seek our will and believe in ourselves. Third, the nature of Sin is the "I desire" which is based upon our will. Fourth, the nature of grace is Jesus living within causing us to do God's will. These principles can be combined which brings about some interesting results.
Examples: first, true faith and God's grace combine to cause an individual to have eternal life, joy, and victorious living. Second, false faith and Sin (the I desire) combine to bring about eternal death, even though the individual may feel happy and above needing God because of his false faith. The third possible combination is grace with false faith. Since grace is the result of true faith, this third group has a mixture of false and true faith because of some good and some bad teaching.
It is very common to find this combination among Christians, especially new ones who lack sound doctrinal foundations. The result is a saint who may have one or all of the following characteristics: confusion, double mindedness, over confidence, apt to talk and not listen, depression because things are not "working" like they should and in its advanced state lack of trust for God and spiritual authority.
The fourth combination would be true faith and Sin but this is impossible! This latter scenario is extremely important in determining if a false teacher is, as some would like to think, "a brother but just messed up," or a hell bound sinner.
For instance, someone with true faith would not teach that people can murder and go to heaven. Likewise, someone with true faith would not teach that Christians should live in mansions and drive limos while the world starves because that is spiritual murder.
Before we get fully into the specifics of the false faith teachers, false doctrines, and false faith ers they produce, let's examine more fully Satanic domain.
As taught in Luke 4, God has delivered the "world" to Satan. God has done this because "the world" is one day going to burn for it is full of corruption (II Pet. 3:10 11). In other words, God no longer has any use for this present, sin polluted world and is going to eventually burn the whole thing up and start over. It's like God has given Satan domain over God's trash pile!
This is why the scriptures warn us to "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love 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 pride of life [this world's beauty and glory], is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (I John 2:15 17).
Now consider this closely. Satan said that God had given this world to him AND to WHOSOEVER Satan would give it. Listen, beware and see it as a sure symptom of the gospel of self whenever anyone comes to you in the name of Jesus, or anyone else, promising you this world or the things (glory) of this world if you will just "believe" their faith formula booklet (Gal. 1:8). We have to see this distinction between Christ's Gospel and Satan's or we won't be able to discern anything in these last days.
Satan and his counterfeit ministers promise to give us "our desire" and "this world." Jesus promises to give us THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND THE WORLD TO COME (Luke 12:32). Christ not only states that He wants to give us the Kingdom. In the next verse He tells us what our attitude should be toward the present world. "Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which was not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:33 34). If our treasures are the spiritual things of heaven, our hearts will be in heaven. But if our treasures are the things of this world, then our hearts are in hell!
Satan says in Luke 4 that he will give this world to WHOSOEVER HE WILL. God states in John 3:16 that WHOSOEVER WILL leave the world behind and commit their life to Christ will receive everlasting life. The question is: Which whosoever are you?
What Satan wishes to give us will burn the world and all the things in it. What God wants to give us will last forever the kingdom of Heaven and contentment with our situation here until we reach our true home (I Tim. 6:8, Col. 3:1 3).
We stated in our study of Sin that false brethren, false apostles, and false teachers are thieves and robbers because they try to create a back door into the Kingdom of God. We stated that this door is hinged upon the grossest misrepresentation of Mark 11:24. "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
Verse 23 of that same chapter says this desire can be obtained by "WHOSOEVER." Satan has his whosoever and things, and God has His whosoever and things. This world is going to burn and ALL THE THINGS (glory) in it! The question is, whose whosoever are you?
If anyone is following the false faith teachers of today in believing Mark 11:23 24 implies that God wants to give anyone the fulfillment of their self based "I desire" by giving them the "things and glory" of this world, they are as warped and blinded by Sin as the devil himself!
Satan has, according to Luke 4, power to give the things of this world in ALL their "glory." In case you have never thought of it before, Satan was offering Jesus money, good looks, fancy chariots, sex, health, big houses, political power, popularity and basically everything a man could desire! He sure wasn't offering Jesus poverty or AIDS!
The Bible plainly states in Mark 11 and elsewhere that we can indeed have what we ask. The ministers of Satan today, however, try to make Christian people believe these verses are talking about whatever carnal thing they may want. We are told truth such as how Christians are now "king's kids." Then that truth is misapplied by telling us that since we are heaven's "royalty" we should live like royalty.
The problem is that these teachers use carnal, worldly interpretation of scripture rather than a selfless, heavenly application.
Yes, Christians are royalty but not earthly royalty. We are to behave ourselves like heavenly heirs, not earthly princes! The character and behavior of heaven's royalty was made manifest to us by the selfless, humble, giving life of the King of kings Jesus! Christians are to be conformed to Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who...made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of [common] men" (Phil. 2:5 7). See also Luke 22:24 27.
Instead of telling us Christ's Gospel (that we need to die to the I DESIRE and submit to and work for the desire and will of God) scripture is being twisted by these false teachers. They are causing unstable souls to believe God is some big mail order catalogue in the sky just sitting around waiting to give us OUR DESIRE and serve us.
Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He wants to steal our joy, kill our relation with our Lord, and destroy our very soul in hell's damnation. He does this by whatever lie or trick will work on any given individual.
He uses drugs and immorality with some, self righteousness, sophistication, and religion with others. To some, he brings disease and discouragement. But fame, fortune, health, and prosperity are his biggest and most deadly killers! "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition [hell]. For the love of money [the key to this world] is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these THINGS" (I Tim. 6:9 11).
Satan wants to side track us into going for the trashy beauty of the things of this world rather than striving for the beauty of holiness! (I Chron. 16:29).
As a Spirit filled, baptized in the Holy Ghost, tongue talking, miracle believing ministry, one of the saddest things to us is what's happening in the charismatic movement. It is becoming full of false teachings and producing tares rather than wheat. Cruden's Concordance defines tares as follows: "Darnel, a weed of which some varieties are poisonous. It looks much like wheat until near harvest time, when the two can be readily distinguished."
Jesus speaks on this to point out a principle in Matthew 13:24 43. He tells us that the wheat and the tares grow together side by side in the same field. But more importantly, when explaining the parable to His disciples in verse 38 He states that the tares are "the children of the wicked one [Satan]."
As we said earlier, the false faith teachers in the Church are not just poor, immature or misguided "brethren." They are Satan's children coming as ministers of righteousness! They are demonic, wicked, self deluded puppets of the devil proclaiming the gospel of self interest in some of its most diabolical forms! The teachers of these doctrines are the end time preachers the Bible refers to in 1 Tim 6:5 as "...men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."
If these are the last days like we all say they are, then the end time scriptures like I Tim. 6:5 have to apply to someone. Mark 13:22 is perhaps the most relevant scripture along this line. "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect."
"False Christs" refers to the satanic ministers of righteousness we have been talking about within orthodox Christianity. The most important phrase, however, is that they will be many and DO signs and wonders.
Throughout scripture God always addresses Himself to His people, the "Church" at the time, and the false teachers He warns about are always those who have infiltrated within His true Church. The Lord was not concerned that the heathen worshiped idols for He had given them over to their reprobate heart. But when idolatry infiltrated into God's own people He became highly disturbed. The same goes for the above scripture. Teachers of lies outside the church are expected, but those coming from within and drawing the sheep away are the problem at hand.
Therefore, this scripture does not apply to unbelievers or cults for they are not God's people even though they may think they are. It does not apply to most of the vast mainline denominational structure of Christendom because they do not do miracles and many don't even believe that miracles are for today. The most obvious groups in Christianity this verse applies to are Pentecostals and "Charismatics."
This is especially frustrating to us at Kingdom Ministries because we are a full gospel, Pentecostal organization. It is our belief that the "bad apple" is not historical Pentecostalism but modern "charismatics."
This tare in the wheat field is giving those who have the true gifts of the Spirit operating through them a bad name because most people tend to "lump" everybody in the same category. There is Pentecostal "wheat" and charismatic "tares."
Many full gospel people themselves need to realize that not everyone who comes along and says, "Praise God, brother, I've been baptized with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues" is a Christian, a follower of Jesus.
Scripture states that in the last days charlatans will come to us as true Christians. They will do signs and wonders, but Revelation 16:14 says that devils can work miracles, too. The things, glory, and "the good life" of this world are Satan's to give, even miraculously!
Paul says in I Corinthians 13 there are tongues (languages) of men and angels. Therefore Satan, as a fallen angel, certainly understands angelic languages (Ezekiel 28:14). A devil entered into King Saul causing him to "prophesy" by the power of Satan (I Samuel 18:10). Acts 2:16 tells us that Old Testament "prophesying" and New Testament "tongues" are the same thing. Thus, Satan has power to give good things, do miracles, and can cause people to prophesy or speak in tongues of angels.
As a side light, one of the most unbiblical teachings I have ever heard some charismatics teach is that Satan can't understand "tongues." They say Christians should pray that way as much as possible to keep the devil from understanding their prayers so he won't be able to mess up their petitions. How stupid! How can the devil not understand his own native language the tongues of angels? And who cares if he understands for he can't stop what God purposes anyway! "For who has resisted his [God's] will?" (Rom. 9: 19). The scriptures say it is other men who do not understand the heavenly languages when one speaks in tongues (I Cor. 14:2).
Back to our subject. There are thousands of so called Charismatics walking around speaking in tongues that, like Saul, are doing it under the influence of demonic religious spirits. The true testimony of someone being baptized with the Holy Ghost is that he is HOLY. He is walking in righteousness, love, humility, giving to the poor and loathing the filth of this world. He also has better things to do in obedient service to God such as witnessing to the lost, visiting the needy, and keeping himself unspotted from the world (James 1:27; II Cor. 7:1) than sitting around all day speaking in tongues.
There are Charismatic poisonous tares, and they are here under our full gospel noses. They have to be somebody doing signs and wonders and at the same time teaching false doctrine. The following are some of these devilish, counterfeit doctrines, the good news of self interest.