The Wrath of God Is Coming

MICHAEL BROWN



The Bible speaks of the day in which Jesus will "tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty" (Rev. 19:15), a day when He will come "in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess. 1:8).

Almost all the writers of the New Testament spoke of this day when the wrath of God would be poured out on the earth. Why is it that so few of us speak about it today? Why aren't we sounding the alarm?

When Paul exhorted believers to live holy lives and to abstain from sin, he reminded them that wrath was coming on the disobedient and ungodly.

To the Ephesians he wrote, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them" (Eph. 5:6-7).

To the Colossians he wrote, "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming" (Col. 3:5-6).

Did Paul know something we don't know? Was there a reason he wanted to remind the godly about the fate of the ungodly? Did he feel it would help us not play games with sin?

Paul actually wrote about God's wrath one-fourth as many times as he wrote about God's grace. Do we follow his lead?

In his short little book, Judah (Jude) found it important to quote this prophecy from Enoch, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 1:14-15).

Why did he emphasize this? Why not just speak about the love of God (which he does as well; see v. 21)? Why remind the righteous about the coming judgments on the unrighteous?

Some teachers today try to downplay this theme by claiming that the verses that speak of Jesus coming in flaming fire and wrath referred to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Are they right?

Certainly, Jesus did warn about the coming destruction of Jerusalem both directly and in parables (see, for example, Matt. 23:37-39; Luke 19:42-44; Matt. 21:33-45).

But it is the height of absurdity to reinterpret all these wrath-related Scriptures to fit that singular event, especially in light of Paul's frequent references to the coming wrath, as if he was saying to believers in Ephesus, "Don't play games with sin, because Jerusalem will soon be destroyed." Hardly!

Worse still is the tendency in some hyper-grace circles to eliminate the wrath of God by simply removing it from the Scriptures, as the Mirror Bible does at times.

As I pointed out in my book Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message, in the ESV, Romans 1:17 reads: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." In the Mirror translation, it becomes: "The righteousness of God that is endorsed in the heavens is in such contrast to the counterfeit earthly reference that blindfolds people in their own unrighteousness." What happened to God's wrath?

Or consider Colossians 3:6, which we quoted earlier: "On account of these the wrath of God is coming." In the Mirror translation, it becomes, "These distorted expressions are in total contradiction to God's design and desire for your life." Yes, "wrath" has completely disappeared once again!

But most teachers and preachers today have not gone so far as to eliminate God's wrath from their Bibles or to interpret it away. They simply ignore it. Why?

Revelation 6 presents this shattering, overwhelming account: "Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" (vv. 15-17)

Do we just ignore this because Revelation is hard to understand? Shouldn't this rather shake us to the core because, as surely as God is God, His wrath will one day be poured out on a sinful and rebellious world?

Peter, like Paul, told us that this should affect the way we live today.

First, he describes what is coming: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

Then he makes application: "Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!"

And he adds this promise: "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace" (2 Pet. 3:10-14).

The wrath of God is coming, and a new heaven and earth are coming.

How then should we live, and what then should we preach?

Michael Brown is the author of Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding With Love and Truth to Questions About Homosexuality and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or at @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.

'Hyper-Grace' Message Creating Culture of Lawlessness

DANIEL K. NORRIS




I had just finished praying in the altars on the last night of an extended revival. A young man who was studying for ministry approached me with tears in his eyes. As I placed my hand on his shoulder, he said, "I need to apologize to you. I judged you too soon. Anytime I hear someone preach what sounds like 'law' it makes me angry and I instantly shut them out. I can see now I was wrong and missed out on what God could have done in me this week." My heart welled up with compassion for him, as my mind replayed the past week searching for the offense. I took a few extra minutes to minister and pray with him there at the altar and the next few days thinking about our conversation.

To be clear, I am a preacher of the gospel, not the law. As an evangelist, I have no other message than that of Christ and Him crucified. It is a message not only of grace, but of love, forgiveness, salvation, redemption, faith, freedom and power!

That said, I have noticed that anytime I make reference to the law, sin, conviction and repentance alongside grace, I feel barriers go up in the atmosphere. At that moment it often becomes necessary to stop and define these terms as they have become so distorted by the toxic theology that has been taught in recent years.

Focusing solely on the grace of God without preaching the divine law, justice and judgment of God is unbalanced. Remember, John 3:16 doesn't just tell us that God loved us and gave his son to us, it also tells us we will perish unless we believe upon Jesus.

It seems to me that we have created a culture in which God's law isn't just physically taken down from courthouses across the nation, but spiritually it has been removed from churches as well. What a shame!

David wrote, "I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times" (Ps. 119:19). Today if you take delight in God's law you are certainly regarded as a stranger here on Earth. Messages of lawlessness, disguised as grace, abound within the body of Christ in these last days to the point that any discussion of God's law is immediately deemed as old-fashioned, legalistic and anti-grace.

As the message of grace has become the vogue message in today's church culture, have we become unbalanced? Does the law have a place in our preaching alongside grace? Is it possible to once again take delight in the law of God? Bear with me as I ask a few of these important questions. Let the Holy Spirit speak, and may He bring the light of truth.

Is God's Law Still Relevant for Today?

Yes! The law was not a set of random rules that God made up to restrict his people as they gathered around the foot of the mountain. It was an expression of his divine nature. His way of showing former slaves what a life of righteousness looked like. They were not given to restrict his people from freedom, but to release them into it! As James states, "whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do" (James 1:25).

I wonder which one of God's laws is no longer relevant today in the 21st century with our new revelation? If we are under grace, why hold people accountable for lying to you? Why not invite your neighbor over to sleep with your spouse? Why prosecute a murderer? Why pay for anything at Walmart when you can just take it?

Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matt. 5:17). Jesus then revealed what that law—fulfilled in himself and within us—looked like.

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment. ...You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:21-28).

Where is the higher standard? With Moses when adultery was done with the body or with Jesus when adultery was done with the heart? Jesus was able to teach the law this way, because with Moses the law was external to the man, written upon stone, but under grace the law was internal to the man written upon his heart (Rom. 2:15, Heb. 10:16, 2 Cor. 3:3). Under the law, man was told what he had to do to live righteously, but under grace, man was enabled to actually be righteous.

Is It Possible to Take Delight in God's Law and Still Be Under Grace?

David said, "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands" (Ps. 112:1). I am a man who stays in awe of God's love and grace. I also take great delight in all of his word—including the law. I have found that grace doesn't render the law irrelevant to me but actually makes it even more relevant for me.

Under the law, man was provided the PRECEPT—that is, the divine rule that taught godly behavior. Every precept of God is based upon a PRINCIPLE—that is, the divine reason behind the rule. Under grace we come to fully understand the principles that drove the precept. Paul was right when he said, "the law was our tutor" (Gal. 3:24).

The Pharisees found satisfaction in their strict adherence to all 613 precepts. Outwardly they looked incredibly religious. Jesus said they were whitewashed tombs, filled with dead men's bones. They knew the precepts but couldn't grasp the principles. Jesus was the perfect picture of not just the precepts but the principles as well. He taught that all the law was based on love. Love for God and love for others. Without love, you'd never understand the law, let alone uphold it (Matt. 22:40, Gal. 5:14).

The Pharisees would criticize Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. To them this was work, which dishonored the precept. Their understanding of the law would rather leave a man sick, lame or dead than to see him made whole on a holy day. How absurd! That's exactly what religion is—absurd! Jesus told them that they didn't understand the principle. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27).

When we see the principles behind the precepts, we begin to see God's truth, which leads to wisdom. These truths can then be applied to every aspect of life. God's wisdom always produces the greatest blessings. The more I understand and utilize the truth of God, the more I am blessed.

So like David, "I meditate on your law all day long. Your commands make me wiser" (Ps. 119:97).

Should the Law Still Be Preached Today?

Paul said, "I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law" (Rom. 7:7).

The law has a purpose. It reveals God's perfect nature and at the same time it reveals our imperfect nature. The law is a picture that shows God's perfection as well as a mirror that shows our imperfection. It's just as much a work of grace to show the sinner his sin, as it is grace to show the sinner the way out of his sin.

Today the lawless preacher says, "don't preach the law, only grace! It's the kindness of God that will lead them to repentance." My friend, grace does not withhold the truth! Jesus came in grace and preached the truth. Likewise, if I truly love you I must point to the problem, then offer the solution.

The law is not bad, "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good" (Rom. 7:12). Oh for the day that preachers would once again realize that God's law is good! Oh for the day that ministers would no longer withhold truth for the fear of man, but with a burning fire begin to proclaim truth with the fear of God!

The law is not the problem, sin is! Today man tries to erase sin by deleting the law and then calling that grace. However, Jesus said, "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void (Luke 16:17). The law points to the sin, "in order that sin might be recognized as sin" (Rom. 7:13).

Once the problem is fully identified, then and only then will man cry out, "What a wretched man I am!" (Rom. 7:24). How will a man ever find his Savior, unless he realizes he is in need of saving? Today sinners find it easy to sit in comfort within our churches never once feeling convicted for their sins. Is it grace to let a drowning man drown lest we offend him? Is it love to watch him sink below the surface hoping one day he might stumble upon the answer?

Grace never withholds the truth! It goes to the furthest extent to rescue us from our sin. Nor does it leave us as it finds us. It transforms us, enabling us to become everything Jesus intended us to be.

Jesus said in the last days "lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold" (Matt. 24:12). The unbalanced message of distorted grace is creating a culture of lawlessness within the body of Christ. As the curtain continues to close and the time of His return draws near, we must right this tilting ship by continuing to preach grace and once again taking delight in his law!

Daniel K. Norris is an evangelist who worked alongside Steve Hill bringing the message of revival and repentance to the nations. Together, they co-hosted a broadcast called From the Frontlines. Norris also hosts the Collision Youth Conference that is broadcast all over the world. He can be contacted at danielknorris.com.

WATCH: Joel Osteen's Wife Under Fire for 'Worship for Yourself' Exhortation

Joel Osteen remains one of the most controversial figures in Christendom. But his wife, Victoria, has been known to stir up drama in her own right.

The latest example has gone viral. Standing next to her husband and speaking to the masses at Lakewood Church in Houston, Victoria told thousands of Christians that church attendance, worship and obedience to God is not for Christ's sake—but for their own happiness.

"So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy," she said. "When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"

The Osteen Predicament: Mere Happiness Cannot Bear the Weight of the Gospel

The evangelical world, joined by no shortage of secular observers, has been abuzz about the latest soundbite of note from the Pastors Osteen—this time offered by Victoria Osteen as her husband Joel beamed in the background. It is a hard video to watch.

In her message, Victoria Osteen tells their massive congregation to realize that their devotion to God is not really about God, but about themselves. "I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God—I mean, that's one way to look at it—we're doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we are happy. ... That's the thing that gives Him the greatest joy."

She continued: "So, I want you to know this morning—Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. ... When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself, because that's what makes God happy. Amen?"

As you might predict, the congregation responded with a loud "Amen."

America deserves the Osteens. The consumer culture, the cult of the therapeutic, the marketing impulse and the sheer superficiality of American cultural Christianity probably made the Osteens inevitable. The Osteens are phenomenally successful because they are the exaggerated fulfillment of the self-help movement and the cult of celebrity rolled into one massive megachurch media empire. And, to cap it all off, they give Americans what Americans crave—reassurance delivered with a smile.

Judged in theological terms, the Osteen message is the latest and slickest version of Prosperity Theology. That American heresy has now spread throughout much of the world, but it began in the context of American Pentecostalism in the early 20th century. Prosperity theology, promising that God rewards faith with health and wealth, first appealed to those described as "the dispossessed"—the very poor.

Now, its updated version appeals to the aspirational class of the suburbs. Whereas the early devotees of prosperity theology prayed for a roof over their heads that did not leak, the devotees of prosperity theology in the Age of Osteen pray for ever bigger houses. The story of how the Osteens exercised faith for a big house comes early in Joel Osteen's best-seller, Your Best Life Now.

According to Osteen, God wants to pour out his "immeasurable favor" on his human creatures, and this requires a fundamental re-ordering of our thinking. "To experience this immeasurable favor," Osteen writes, "you must rid yourself of that small-minded thinking and start expecting God's blessings, start anticipating promotion and supernatural increase. You must conceive it in your heart before you can receive it. In other words, you must make increase in your own thinking, then God will bring those things to pass."

There is nothing really new in this message. Anyone familiar with the New Thought movement and later books such as Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich will see a persistent theme. The important issue is this: Prosperity theology is a false gospel. The problem with prosperity theology is not that it promises too much but that it aims for so little. What God promises us in Christ is far above anything that can be measured in earthly wealth—and believers are not promised earthly wealth nor the gift of health.

But to talk of the promises of God to believers is actually to jump outside the Osteen audience. The Osteen message does not differentiate between believers and unbelievers—certainly not in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In their sermons, writings and media appearances, the Osteens insist that God is well-disposed to all people and wills that all flourish, but there is virtually no mention of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No reference to sin as the fundamental issue. No explanation of atonement and resurrection as God's saving acts; no clarity of any sort on the need for faith in Christ and repentance of sin.

Instead, they focus on happiness and God's "immeasurable favor" to be poured out on all people, if they will only correct their thinking.

As a thought exercise, let's just limit the consideration to those people who have identified as Christians throughout the centuries. Does the Osteen message come close to their experience? Would it even make sense?

Just consider the fact that most Christians throughout the history of the church have been poor, and often desperately poor. They were not hoping to move into a suburban mini-mansion, they hoped to be able to feed their children one more day. That picture is still true for millions upon millions of Christians around the world today.

And that is just the start of it. What about all those who are even now suffering persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? What about the loved ones of the martyrs in Mosul? What about the Christians forced out of their homes and threatened with genocide by the Islamic State terrorists? What about the children of Christians slain in Iraq and Syria just in recent weeks, or those martyred by Boko Haram in Africa? How does prosperity theology work for them? Can anyone look them in the eye and say that God's plan for believers in this life is to know "Your Best Life Now"?

In her recent work on prosperity theology, historian Kate Bowler traces the shift from what she calls the "hard prosperity" message of the early Pentecostals to the "soft prosperity" message of modern preachers like Joel Osteen. As Bowler explains, the new "softer" version of the prosperity message has "become the foremost Christian theology of modern living."

Well, maybe. Prosperity theology certainly sells books and draws crowds in the United States, but what does it possibly say to a grieving Christian wife and mother in Iraq? How can it possibly be squared with the actual message of the New Testament? How can any sinner be saved, without a clear presentation of sin, redemption, the cross, the empty tomb, and the call to faith and repentance? Prosperity theology fails every test, and fails every test miserably. It is a false gospel, and one that must be repudiated, not merely reformatted.

Victoria Osteen's comments fit naturally within the worldview and message she and her husband have carefully cultivated. The divine-human relationship is just turned upside down, and God's greatest desire is said to be our happiness. But what is happiness? It is a word that cannot bear much weight. As writers from C.S. Lewis to the apostle Paul have made clear, happiness is no substitute for joy. Happiness, in the smiling version assured in the Age of Osteen, doesn't last, cannot satisfy, and often is not even real.

Furthermore, God's pleasure in his human creatures centers in his desire and will that they come to faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. The great dividing line in humanity is not between the rich and the poor, the sick and the well, or even the happy and the unhappy. The great divide is between those who, in Christ, have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's glorious light.

Mere happiness cannot bear the weight of the gospel. The message of the real gospel is found in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." That is a message that can be preached with a straight face, a courageous spirit, and an urgent heart in Munich, in Miami or in Mosul.

If our message cannot be preached with credibility in Mosul, it should not be preached in Houston. That is the Osteen Predicament.

The Rev. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. You can write to him at mail@albertmohler.com or follow him on Twitter at @albertmohler.

Unless otherwise specified, the opinions expressed are solely the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Charisma Media.

CHC Trial - Kong decided on 'what money to spend, how much and where it would come from'

BY FENG ZENGKUN

SINGAPORE - City Harvest founder Kong Hee was the key decision-maker behind plans to sink church funds into his wife's Ho Yeow Sun's music career in the United States, the prosecution said in court on Wednesday.

They also sought to show that Kong closely supervised the other co-defendants. Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong produced a 2007 e-mail in which Kong had berated Tan Ye Peng for failing to ensure that his wife's China concerts were a success.

"The Beijing and Shanghai events cost us so much money... but at the end, who came? It was a joke!" said Kong in the e-mail. "Time wasted. Efforts wasted. Objectives not met. Money thrown away unnecessarily. I don't get it. How have we become good stewards of money? We tried to save a few thousands on hotels and (threw) hundreds and thousands on result-less concerts."

Kong added: "How I wish I can run the whole show the way I run our church (in) the last 18 years! But I can't... (My wife and I) are putting our lives and destiny at the hands of our disciples, our spiritual children. We hope you guys don't let us down."

While Kong has maintained that he was involved only in the budgeting for the US foray and left the fundraising to others, the prosecution alleged that Kong made decisions about "what money to spend, how much and where it would come from". The prosecution produced statements made by Kong's co-defendants to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to bolster the point.

Kong and five others face various charges for their part in the alleged misuse of some $50 million of church funds to boost Ms Ho's music career, and then to cover up the deed. Several of them allegedly got the funds out of City Harvest coffers by investing the money in sham bonds issued by two companies, Xtron Productions and Firna, which were run by church members. Xtron was Ms Ho's artist manager at one time.

While Kong maintained that Xtron directors had to give approval for company transactions to finance her career, statements made by Kong's co-defendants Serina Wee, Chew Eng Han and Tan to the CAD contradicted this, said the prosecution.

According to the three defendants, Xtron directors were "updated" only after Tan, Wee and Kong had made the decisions. "Xtron directors were not actively involved," said Chew in his statement. "Technically they can challenge (the decisions), but they would not because they are doing the right thing by giving their full support," he said.

Kong disagreed. He said that Xtron directors being "updated" meant their approval for the transactions were sought, and in the end it was the directors who had final say over whether the deals were made.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/courts-crime/story/kong-decided-what-money-spend-how-much-and-where-it-would-come-201#sthash.Ltek2Eb1.dpuf

Summary for Kong Hee's testimony on 20 Aug 2014

CHC Confession



DPP produced emails that showed Serina Wee approaching Kong Hee and Tan Ye Peng to find ways to increase sales for Xtron.

One email also showed Kong Hee gave approval.

Kong Hee argued that all Xtron's billings to CHC were legit and commercially viable.

One particular mark-up of $630,000 was necessary as Xtron ran out of money at that time.

Kong Hee agreed that the mark-up of $630,000 caused a loss for CHC... but Kong Hee argued that it actually benefitted CHC to the effect that a financially strong Xtron would be able to fulfill the crossover mandate that CHC could not achieve on its own.

DPP put it to Kong Hee that he had control on income transfers from CHC to Xtron and transfers of expenses from Xtron to CHC, and that Kong Hee was involved in getting the financing for the crossover project.

DPP put it to Kong Hee that in fact he was the ultimate authority in ensuring the crossover project was being financed.

DPP insisted that Kong Hee had to do with the dealings of the alleged sham bonds.

DPP also produced an email that showed Kong Hee telling Tan Ye Peng and Chew Eng Han to find ways to get funds for Sun Ho.

Kong insisted that the ultimate decision makers for the alleged sham bonds are CHC Board of Directors and Xtron's directors.

DPP asked Kong Hee if he had told Tan Ye Peng and Chew Eng Han to look only for bank loans for Xtron and nothing else, would they still have gone ahead to do the bonds?

Kong Hee said "Chew Eng Han is a very persuasive man and is a very tenacious man. He may come back to me a few weeks later and suggest it again..."

Kong Hee further said that he had told Tan Ye Peng and Chew Eng Han to check and to clear the bonds with the lawyers and auditors.

DPP put it to Kong Hee that he was lying when he said he was not involved in the financing because he wanted to distance himself from the bond transactions which he knew to be sham and solely motivated by a desire to channel the Building Fund under the guise of investments to the crossover project.

Kong Hee replied he is a pastor not a financial person and therefore he did not make decision for the alleged sham bonds but he left it to CHC Board of Directors and Xtron's directors to make the decision on the bonds.

DPP continued to show emails that Kong had ultimate control of Xtron's cash flow.

The emails showed that Serina Wee always kept Kong Hee updated on Xtron's cash flow and Serina Wee also sought Kong Hee's instructions when Xtron's cash flow was running low.

Kong maintained again that it was CHC Board of Directors that approved all the decisions pertaining to the alleged sham bonds. Kong Hee maintained that Serina Wee was merely asking him for his opinion.

(Note: Kong Hee terminated negotiations with Wyclef without asking Xtron's directors and this conflicted with his stand that he only acts on Xtron directors' approval)

DPP went on to show evidence that before 2003, CHC was using church funds to pay for Sun Ho's singing career via Attributes Pte Ltd (APL).

DPP went on to show minutes of AGM on 27 Jun 2003, after the Roland Poon incident.

In the minutes, Kong Hee told the Executive Members (EM) that not a single cent of church fund was used for Sun Ho's singing career.

DPP asked Kong if this is accurate.

Kong Hee replied that Brother Foong Daw Ching told him that no church fund was used, so Kong Hee told the EMs that no church fund was used as he respects Brother Foong Daw Ching.

DPP asks again if this is accurate that not a single cent of church fund was used.

Kong Hee said that in his simplistic mind, he followed Foong Daw Ching's advice. On hind sight, Kong Hee felt he should have checked with other people rather than to just believe in what Foong Daw Ching said.

DPP asked how did Hanafi's refund come back to cover crossover's deficit.

Kong Hee told the court that Hanafi had promised to underwrite the crossover and when the Roland Poon incident broke, the board approached Hanafi Wahju to cover the amount APL paid for Sun Ho via a refund of the building fund that Hanafi contributed.

DPP then showed a document that John Lam gave a different story.

John Lam told CAD officers that Hanafi gave wrongly to the building fund thinking that it also covered crossover. John Lam said that the Building Fund gave a refund to Hanafi so that he could re-direct the donation to the crossover.

DPP then asked Kong which is the correct version.

Kong Hee replied that John Lam's testimony should be the correct one..

DPP asked again if it was accurate to say not a single cent of church fund was used.

Kong Hee replied that he was simple minded to believe Foong Daw Ching and he should have checked with others on this.

Kong Hee also said he didn't know that there was a refund from Building Fund to Hanafi Wahju. Kong said he thought it was fresh new funds.

Only later then Kong Hee knew it was a refund of Hanafi Wahju's donation to the Building Fund.

DPP put it to Kong Hee that contrary to his evidence suggesting that he was not so clear about Wahju's reallocation of his Building Fund to the crossover in 2003, Kong Hee was actually the one who wanted the reallocation to the crossover so that he would be able to tell the church that no church funds had been used.

Kong disagreed and maintained that he was just reiterating what Brother Foong Daw Ching had told him.

To be continued....

CITY HARVEST CHURCH trial – Sun Ho was pissed off by online bloggers

TR EMERITUS

Dear TRE,

For some reason the ST is under-reporting the CHC trial. Many key and interesting details are not revealed. Most of the details are found here : https://www.facebook.com/CHCConfessions?fref=ts


The most sensational day was yesterday and here’s the posting:

Summary for Kong Hee’s testimony on 18 Aug 2014

Mr Chew Eng Han (CEH) spent considerable time to query Kong Hee on the Irregularities surrounding the Multi-Purpose Account (MPA).

The unsuspecting donors to the MPA were 28 couples and a few individuals handpicked from the inner circle.

The donations were meant for evangelism through Sun’s concerts in Asia.

(Note : Our understanding is that the… donors’ list to MPA was later expanded to include 50 pastoral staff and other staff. They were told to tithe to a Man of God instead of the church or Building Fund)

CEH confronted Kong Hee and said he felt cheated by Kong Hee as Kong Hee presented a fake account on MPA in 2009.

CEH alleged that Kong Hee lied to the donors and proclaimed a lower figure collected than the actual amount donated.

CEH alleged that Kong Hee lied so that he could claim that the donations were not enough as Kong Hee urged the donors to give more.

Kong Hee countered that the amount he presented in 2009 was after paying Sun Ho $400,000 for royalties and salaries.

(In 2009, the average collection in MPA was $1.5mil-2mil.)

Kong Hee chided CEH that only CEH and his wife made an issue whereas other donors did not say they were disappointed.

Kong Hee further said it is CHC culture not to reveal details.

Kong insisted that MPA is meant not just for the purported crossover but also to cater for Kong Hee’s and Sun Ho’s livelihood.

Kong Hee also countered that MPA donors were the initiators on the donations and they were all willing donors.

CEH went on to show an email that CHC bought $1 million worth of Kong Hee’s products.

Kong Hee insisted that it was the board’s decision.

CEH went on to show evidence that Serina Wee used Hanafi’s company, (FIRNA) account to refund Kong and CEH sought to prove Kong engineered these financial transactions.

Kong insisted it was Wahju’s own initiative that he wanted to bless Kong Hee.

CEH said this is clearly another round-tripping which used CHC funds to purchase FIRNA bonds so as to channel funds to Kong Hee’s personal bank account.

Kong disagreed and said it was Wahju’s own initiative.

CEH then said the bonds are clean and it was what Kong Hee did with the money that made the bonds sham.

CEH wanted to show Kong Hee preached hard to get the money to pay for the penthouse at Sentosa Cove.

Kong Hee sought to show that he preached a lot on soliciting donations due to his love for mission work to reach out to the unsaved.

CEH rebutted that and said it was for Sentosa Cove and the evidence was in a 4.5hr recording.

CEH alleged that Kong Hee mentioned in the recording that he preached like “siao” because he needed to meet payments for the penthouse at Sentosa Cove.

(CEH wanted to use a 4.5 hour recording but the Judge stopped it as Edwin Tong and Tan Ye Peng’s lawyer objected to it repeatedly.)

CEH showed evidence that Serina Wee had Hanafi’s (FIRNA) bank account and Kong Hee had control on how to channel monies to Kong Hee’s personal bank account via FIRNA’s bank account.

Kong Hee denied and said he did not know how Serina Wee had access to Wahju’s company bank account.

But the email evidence showed Serina asking permission regarding some funds transfer via FIRNA to Kong Hee’s personal bank account.

Kong maintained that he was not sure why Serina Wee would have such access to Wajhu’s company’s bank account.

Edwin Tong objected as CEH moved on to show evidence that CHC KL was also used by Kong Hee for round tripping.

Kong insisted the refund via CHC KL was an independent action of CHC KL’s board.

CEH went on to talk about a confession letter where Jimmy Yim (the previous lawyer) wanted Kong Hee to take the rap.

Kong said he wanted to take the rap but didn’t in the end.

CEH insisted Kong Hee never had the intention to take the rap.

CEH also asked Kong Hee to present the confession letter.

CEH went on to ask about the CAD interview with Sun Ho and how Kong Hee lied that it was because of CAD investigations that Sun Ho could not continue with the release of the albums.

CEH said Sun Ho’s passport was returned back to her after they put up a bail of $500k with the court.

Kong insisted investigations by CAD was the reason they never continued the release of the albums.

The investigations gave them no morale to continue.

CEH went on to show evidence that Sun Ho knew that Xtron was bankrolled by CHC.

CEH showed emails that Sun Ho was in the loop.

Kong denied and said Sun Ho didn’t know.

CEH then showed the email but Kong Hee said Sun Ho might not have read.

(CEH said then I will ask her myself before the court…..)

CEH went on to ask if Kong gave to the Building Fund (BF) or gave tithes to CHC.

Kong replied he gave to MPA.

CEH asked if MPA was for his livelihood then how could he tithe to himself?

Kong said his tithe was used for crossover.

CEH asked Kong Hee that from 2005-2010 whether Kong Hee gave tithe to CHC or gave to Building Fund (BF).

Kong Hee said he gave to MPA, not tithe to CHC or Building Fund.

CEH then asked in year 2005-2010, there was one year where Kong went on stage and told the members that God spoke to him (Kong Hee) to up the donation amount and he instantly obeyed and changed the amount (on the cheque) on stage.

How come now Kong Hee say he never gave to the Building Fund?

CEH said Kong Hee was acting on stage.

Edwin Tong and Tan Ye Peng’s lawyer objected but the Judge ruled in favor of CEH and asked Kong Hee to answer the questions.

Kong said he never pledged any money at that moment but gave an offering, Edwin Tong objected on irrelevance…CEH insisted that what Kong Hee did on stage was an act because there is no record of Kong Hee’s pledge or offering (to the BF).

CEH moved on to say crossover is not church mission but Kong Hee’s and Sun Ho’s personal mission.

Kong insisted 2007,08,09 monies were needed for crossover So all his tithes and donations to building fund goes to MPA.

For crossover Kong Hee insisted that the money came from MPA and Kong Hee tithed to MPA.

CEH went on to say he didn’t have the same ulterior motives as Kong Hee and Tan Ye Peng.

When CEH helped them, he genuinely believed it was God’s mission.

CEH went on to show that Kong Hee hired private investigators before the CAD raid in June 2010.

They hired private investigators in March 2010 and they found out all the bloggers’ n forumers’ identities.

CEH showed blackberry messages that Sun Ho said: “Can we shut the mouths of all these haters? Can we take legal action against them?”

CEH moved on to show emails he sent to Kong Hee and Sun Ho, asking them not to worry about the bloggers and the truth will show we are clean.

CEH was trying to show that his state of mind was that he genuinely believed in the crossover project as mooted by Kong Hee.

The blackberry messages showed Sun Ho was pissed off by the bloggers.

Singer Ho Yeow Sun received over $500,000 in bonuses, advances

BY MELODY ZACCHEUS

Pop singer Ho Yeow Sun received more than half a million in bonuses and advances, including a $30,000 birthday cash gift and an $80,000 "special performance bonus for hits in the US or the United Kingdom" in 2006.

But to divert attention from some of these extra takings, leaders of City Harvest Church allegedly doctored documents to show that sponsors had given the money to her as "personal gifts".

These details emerged on the first day of the second leg of the trial involving six church leaders accused of misusing millions of church funds. The high-profile trial had resumed after a three- month break.

Yesterday, prosecutors tried to show that Ms Ho's former management company, Xtron Productions, was a puppet company controlled by the church's leadership, including founder Kong Hee, who is her husband.

The State is accusing the six of using Xtron and another firm, Firna, to funnel $24 million of church funds into paying for Ms Ho's secular pop music career, and then misappropriating another $26 million to cover that up.

Like at the first part of the trial in May, supporters started lining up outside the Subordinate Courts from as early as 4am for a spot in the 80-seater public gallery in Court 3.

A solemn Ms Ho showed up in court, hand-in-hand with her smiling husband for the first half of the day's proceedings.

One of the accused, Chew Eng Han, a church stalwart and its investment manager who had quit in June, kept his distance from the rest. He did not speak to the other five in the dock, and stood aside from them during breaks.

The trial continues today and prosecution witness Choong Kar Weng, Xtron's director and long- time church member, is expected to take the stand again.

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/chc-funds-case/story/singer-ho-yeow-sun-received-over-500000-bonuses-advances-20130827#sthash.L4jN0pMR.dpuf

The Longsuffering of God Has a Limit by Michael Brown

"How do You live with it, Lord?"

That's a question I recently asked God in prayer as I thought about all of the suffering taking place around the world today, especially as human beings slaughter one another in the most horrific and barbaric ways, including reports of Muslim radicals beheading Christian children.

"Lord, how do You live with so much suffering and pain when you see it and know it all?"

As Basilea Schlink once said, "Anyone who loves as much as God does, cannot help suffering. And anyone who really loves God will sense that He is suffering."

For our finite human minds, this is a great paradox, since the Word tells us that in God's presence is fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11), and yet we know that His heart also grieves over humanity's broken condition. Did Paul experience this on some level when he said that he was "grieving yet always rejoicing" (2 Cor. 6:10)?

But there is not only divine grief over human suffering. There is also divine grief over human sin, as Genesis 6 tells us immediately before the flood: "And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart" (Gen. 6:6).

There was so much wickedness, so much violence, so much depravity, so much sin. What happened to this exquisite race of people created in His own image?

My precious wife, Nancy, who sometimes weeps in prayer for hours because of human suffering, suggested to me that God's pain over His sinning creation could be likened to the pain experienced by parents who waited for years to have a baby, and then, after what seemed like an endless wait, found out they were having a child.

The parents got the baby's room all ready and bought all kinds of little toys and clothes in readiness for their child's birth, and when that amazing day came, they showered their priceless newborn with love and affection—only to have that child grow up to be a depraved and ruthless serial killer.

Who can describe an agony like that? Yet God, in His longsuffering, has endured thousands of years of even greater agony because of human sin—look at what His creation has done and continues to do—yet somehow, He has withheld the full force of His judgment and wrath.

That's why the Word reminds us over and again that He is slow to anger and great in mercy (see, for example, Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8). As one man once cried out in a small prayer meeting I attended, "God I thank You that You are slow to anger and great in mercy, because if You were great in anger and slow in mercy, we would have all been destroyed many years ago."

And yet there is a limit to His longsuffering. One day the wrath of God will come.

Paul warned about it repeatedly—yes, the same Paul who wrote so much about God's grace also wrote about His wrath—and we would do well to follow his lead.

To a judgmental sinner in Romans 2, Paul wrote, "Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance." In other words, the reason He has not yet judged you for your sins is not because He is looking the other way or because He doesn't care. Rather, it is because He is being extraordinarily kind to you to give you the opportunity to repent.

But Paul didn't stop there, as many teachers do when they simply state, "The goodness of God leads you to repentance" (which, again, is only part of the point Paul was making). Instead, Paul continued, "But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment is revealed" (Rom. 2:4-5).

This is a truly staggering thought. Nonbelievers are "storing up wrath" for themselves in the day of wrath. Can you imagine what this will look like?

With all the sins being committed every single day—from rape to torture to mass murder to every kind of defiling, unclean, idolatrous act—how much wrath is being stored up by humanity as a whole? How intense will that be? (Under no circumstances can this be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD or to some other past event, as some preterists attempt to do; this speaks of a day of wrath that has not yet come.)

That's why Paul, after listing sins of the flesh that all of God's people must turn away from, could write: "Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God's wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners" (Eph. 5:6-7; see also Col. 3:6).

He was saying, "Since you don't want to partake in the wrath that is coming on the disobedient, don't partake in their sin either."

According to Peter, on that day, "the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed" (2 Pet. 3:10).

And Peter was not exaggerating in the least. How "hot" it will be when God's anger, justice, and judgment are poured out on a sinning world?

And just like Paul, Peter explained that there was a practical application for our lives as well:

"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God. The heavens will be on fire and be dissolved because of it, and the elements will melt with the heat. But based on His promise, we wait for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will dwell" (2 Pet. 3:11-13).

Peter was simply reiterating what the Old Testament prophets spoke about over and again, a major theme of God's Word: There is a limit to His longsuffering, and one day, His wrath will be poured out like fire.

Shouldn't this be part of our preaching today?

Shouldn't this be part of our warning to a sinning world?

And doesn't this highlight the power of the cross and the Blood of Jesus, who died so that we would not have to suffer that wrath in this world or the next?

Paul warned sinners about future judgment (see Acts 17:31; 24:24-25) and reminded God's people that it was coming (Rom. 2:6-10).

Shouldn't we do the same?

Michael Brown is author of Can You Be Gay and Christian? Responding With Love and Truth to Questions About Homosexuality and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or at @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.

When Prophets and Pastors Are Blind as Bats by JENNIFER LECLAIRE

As the blind lead the blind into apostasy, we must remember Who makes blind men see and sets the captives free. (FreeImages.com)

"Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.

"If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it."

Those were the words of Charles G. Finney, a leader in America's Second Great Awakening, recorded on Dec. 4, 1843. Those words were true then but are especially prophetic for our generation. Immorality is prevailing in the land. There is a decay of conscience. The media lacks moral discrimination. The church is degenerate and worldly. The world has lost its interest in religion. Satan rules in our halls of legislation. Politics are corrupt, and the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away.

History Repeats Itself

Yes, those words are true today, they were true 171 years ago—and they were true thousands of years before that in Isaiah's day. Indeed, history continues to repeat itself as spiritual leaders are struck blind in their disobedience to God's Word. Many are hearers—and preachers—of the Word but have deceived themselves by not walking in truth (see James 1:22).

The spirit of the world has invaded our church—but some pastors embrace carnal Christianity and are unwilling to confront sin for fear of losing tithes to an ear-tickling church. Their conscience is seared with a hot iron (see 1 Tim. 4:1) so they can't see how their compromise is affecting the flock—leading them down a broad path that leads to destruction (see Matt. 7:13). I sometimes wonder if God has given some pastors and prophets over to a reprobate mind (see Rom. 1:28)—or at least left them in their blindness and slumber. Isaiah put it this way:

"Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers" (Isa. 29:9-10).

Although many in prophetic ministry are sounding the alarm, blowing the trumpet and stirring souls to wake up and understand the signs of the times, many in pulpits are blind watchman who are just out for greedy gain. Isaiah prophesied to the irresponsible leaders in his day:

"All you beasts of the field, come to devour, all you beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory" (Isa. 56:9-11).

Will History Repeat Itself Again?

Saints, immorality is prevailing in the land. There is a decay of conscience. The media lacks moral discrimination. The church is degenerate and worldly. The world has lost its interest in religion. Satan rules in our halls of legislation. Politics are corrupt—and the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away.

But here's the good news. History repeats itself. Just before the first two Great Awakenings, people thought the church was done for. Many thought there was no hope. But with God there is always hope. God is a God of hope (Rom. 15:13). I am hoping—I am believing—for another Great Awakening in this land. I am hoping—I am believing—that the pastors and prophets will repent from their ear-tickling messages. I am hoping—I am believing—that the remnant will rise up in intercession for this land so that God will intervene.

I've been called a false prophet for hoping and believing. So be it. If we cannot hope for another Great Awakening, then we may as well give up. We have Christ in us, the hope of glory (see Col. 1:27). Church, it's time for us to wake up as individuals and begin hoping and praying again despite the darkness we see all around us. It's time to walk by faith and not by sight (see 2 Cor. 5:7). It's time for us to release believing prayers, because our intercession is what can turn this around.

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine" (Psalm 33:18-19). Amen.

 Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also director of IHOP Fort Lauderdale and author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet and The Spiritual Warrior's Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at jennifer.leclaire@charismamedia.com or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

"The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly" by David Wilkerson (Urgent)

(Transcribed from a audio tape recording of a Message at Times Square Church)

Zephaniah 3:18 - "I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. "

This is a dual prophecy by Zephaniah. It has to do with the children of Israel . . and also with spiritual Zion (which is the church of Jesus Christ of the last day). First of all, he was speaking to Jews - that God was going to gather together the dispersed . . . but He was only going to bring back those who had a broken heart for the sad condition of Israel. . . . . He would remember all who carried the reproach. . . all of the horrible things that were going on in God's House. Those who carried the burden of it, He said, "I am going to gather you". He made great promises to these. . .

This prophecy is also to the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel were called to their festivals for seven days. On the eighth day - it was called an Solemn Assembly. That was when they met especially together - putting everything aside in focused worship and praise to the Heavenly Father. The scripture says, "On the eighth day you shall have a Solemn Assembly". This Solemn Assembly is all through the Old Testament representing the congregation that is separated unto God needing to meet the Lord.

This is the Church of Jesus Christ in the Last Day. According to Zephaniah, the House of God in the Last Days is going to be under reproach. The Hebrew word hear means "shame and disgrace".

There is going to be shame and disgrace in the House of God. We are not talking about the backslidden, liberal modern church. . . . The Lord said on the Judgment Day, He will deal with that Church. We can pray for them, but we are not spend any of our grief on that which is not really the Church.

God is looking for a people who will sorrow and grieve over the reproach that is being fostered on the Church of Jesus Christ in these last days. I am talking about the Church that was born at Pentecost. I am talking about the Church that was born in the teaching of the Apostle Paul and the Apostles. The Church born in the doctrine of the Godhead of Jesus Christ. That born-again Church is under attack. That Church is suffering reproach.

It has been prophesied that in this day of reproach, shame and disgrace, God is going to raise up a holy remnant who are going grieve and weep over this defilement. . .

God will have a remnant that will not sit idly by while all of these things invade the Church. God says, "I will have a people that are not going to be satisfied to go their merry way and just ignore what is happening as Charlatans and money-mad false prophets are coming into the House of God and destroying everything in sight."

God is going to gather a people who grieve over this. . . . If you truly love the Lord and you love His Church, you can not look honestly at what is happening today (and I am going to name these reproaches this morning). If after you hear what I have to say about this reproach, and you can walk out of this Church and you can say, "I just stand on Matthew 18 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church', I am not going to worry about, God has everything under control".

That is not enough. God uses people. God uses people to perform His work. He does not send angels. Angels weep over it, but God does not use angels to accomplish His purposes. He uses burdened broken-hearted weeping men and women. . . . . Judgment is at the door, Jesus is coming. The Day of the Lord is at hand.

Wake up elders. Wake up pastors. Wake up shepherds. Take a look at the Church. Get the burden. Carry it. Why should we take on the burden of the reproach of the Solemn Assembly? Joel said, "because there is a rotten seed being planted."

A gospel is being preached that is withering everything that is in sight. Everything that is green and Godly and pure is being withered. The seed is rotten . . . . . there is a famine of hearing the pure Word of the Lord. . . . there is no pasture. The flocks are desolate and hungry. The rivers are drying up. A strange fire is devouring the pastors. Ezekiel says that Shepherds are trampling down the good pasture and eating the best for themselves. What are the shameful disgraceful things that are happening in the Church of Jesus Christ today?

First of all it is the rotten seed that is being preached by covetous Shepherds. This is known as the PROSPERITY GOSPEL.

This is one of the greatest reproaches that the Church of Jesus Christ ever perpetrated since Christ.

This perverted gospel is poisoning multitudes - even in China, Africa and all over the world. It is an American gospel invented and spread by rich American evangelists and pastors. Rich!

It alarms me that so many people can hear the tapes and see videos that are coming out of these prosperity conferences and not weep over them. This poison has spread all over the world. Cuba is about to open and they are itching to get in there right now with their Prosperity gospel to tell them, "you have been poor enough now, God wants all Cubans to be rich."

This past week I was given a video tape recently recorded in Kenneth Copeland's meetings. I listened to the speakers and I was dumbfounded.

Folks, you read the New Testament, you will find that Paul the Apostle named those who he believed were false prophets. He warned and he named their names. I am telling you now that if you can listen to what I am about to tell you, and not be grieved, then you are blind. You are spiritually blind. You have a hard heart. A heart with a shield on it so that the pure gospel can not penetrate it. The mind has been so saturated with this unbalanced gospel that you can not come to many of them. You can not preach the truth. You can not show them anything else in the scripture because they have a shield over their hearts. Hard hearted.

Some of you will not receive it. If you have been feeding your soul on Copeland or Hagin's tapes, you are not going to like what you hear. Folks, I am a Shepherd, I've been called by God. I made this church a promise. As long as we are in this pulpit, if we saw wolves in sheep's clothing coming to rob the flock, we would stand up and cry out against it. It is up to you to do something about it.

I sat this week and listened to the speakers at this conference and I was so shocked and hurt. The burden of the Lord came on me. That is why I am preaching this message. Grieve over it.

I quote word for word what was said. All the speakers could hardly get by because all of the people were running up stuffing their pockets with money. The reason they do that is a new doctrine that has just come out that says, "if you want to be blessed, you have to find the most blessed evangelist or pastor you can find because he that has been given much receiveth much, he that has little, even that which he has will be taken from him. If you find the most blessed prosperous preacher and give him money, then you will be blessed. The more blessed he is, if you give you to those that are most blessed. . . ". it is a pyramid scheme. If these men were in the secular world, they would be in jail. Ponzie schemes. Pyramid schemes. The man at the top who appears to be the holiest and speaks the loudest. Hundreds of people were running up until the pockets were bulging. The sinner says, "is this the free gospel? Dollar bills?"

Listen to what was said. The speaker got up and he said, "if a poor widow on welfare hands you $5.00, you better take it. Elijah took the widow's last meal. You are the anointed one, you deserve it, you take it."

The same speaker said, "I live in a 8,000 square foot house. I am going to build a bigger one now. One that King Solomon would be proud of. I just paid $15,000 for a dog. You see this gorgeous ring on my finger, I was in Jamaica and just paid $32,000 for it. I want you know that when the people in my town come past my mansion and they see my Rolls Royce sitting in the driveway, they know there is a God in heaven."

Now, you tell me, that is the gospel? You tell me that you can't weep over that.

One of the speakers got up and said, "We made a covenant along with Brother Copeland that for the next 365 days none of us are going to suffer for a single day. We will not know a moment of discouragement. We will never be sick or in need. We are going to enjoy all the blessings. We reject all suffering, all pain, all financial problems." That is fine if you are on the top of the heap.

Here is what grieves me most. This was preached. "The Holy Spirit can't be poured out upon you until first you are in the money flow. Until you are prospering, the Holy Ghost cannot do His work."

Think of it! How does this affect you? What does it do to your spirit when you see poor people who are living from pay check to pay check and suddenly he says, "run for the money" and people are running wildly everywhere and they say as they run, "they are claiming the riches".

Then I see people withering like snakes out of their seats onto the floor. I see the evangelist going up and hissing like a snake and people falling everywhere. Folks, what is going on?

The Reproach of the Solemn Assembly! The prophet called them "greedy dogs, ungodly watchmen". Folks, if you had the heart of God and the burden of the Lord you would be crying out with Isaiah, "they are blind watchmen, ignorant, dumb dogs, sleeping, loving to slumber, yea, greedy dogs which can never have enough."

"I've got 8,000 square foot but I am going to sell it and I'm going to make one now that King Solomon could live in...." Never getting enough.

He said, "Shepherds that cannot understand, they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his quarter". Jeremiah spared no words. He said, "My people are lost sheep. Their Shepherds have caused them to go astray. " You say, "Pastor, you have no right to speak so strongly on this subject." If you think I'm strong, listen to Ezekiel 34:1-10. [read this scripture]

You take $5.00 from the widow and you buy a $15,000 dog. You take the pay check from the widow and the poor and you tell them that they do not have enough faith - that is why they are prospering. You take the very wool from off the back of the sheep. You are not out for souls, you are out for money.


"The Shepherds fed themselves and fed not the flock, therefore O you Shepherds, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the Shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the Shepherds feed themselves any more, for I will deliver my flock from mouth that they may not be meat for them anymore".

I am going to deliver my flock from the teeth of these men. My God, help us.

Second, the misrepresentation of the blessed Holy Ghost. This is the worst reproach. It should make us fall on our faces. The way and the manner in which the Holy Ghost is being represented to the whole world.

Sad to say, there is so little discernment left in the church among so many pastors and even church leaders. They don't even know when the Holy Ghost is being misrepresented or blasphemed. There are thousands of Christians that go to crusades and they see things that they think is the Holy Ghost and they don't even know what they are sitting under. They are clapping and praising God while a man stands up there blaspheming and misrepresenting the Holy Ghost and they don't even know it.

Entire Charismatic denominations, including the Assemblies of God, are being torn apart, literally torn apart by pseudo revivals. All kinds of things that are happening - there is something new being introduced almost every week. The leaders don't whether to embrace it or to curse it. They don't know what to do. We get letters from hundreds and hundreds of pastors from all over the world. They say, "what is right and what is wrong?" Where are the leaders? Where is somebody to tell us?

Folks, what we are seeing today in what is called so many revivals and things that are happening attributed to the Holy Ghost can not be found in the Scripture. Anything that can not be found in this Book has to be rejected outright. Totally rejected!

I weep when I see these videos that are sent to me from all over the country. Whole groups of bodies jerking out of control, falling on the floor, laughing hysterically, staggering around like drunkards, writhing like snakes, howling like wild animals. We have evangelists that stand and blow on people to knock them down, as if the breath of the Holy Ghost is now incarnated him. Throws his "designer" jacket at people and says that is the "hand of the Lord".

Now a new Gospel has just hit South America. Folks, it is rude and crude, but I have to tell you. When you get away from the parameters of Scripture, when you get up and say: "Oh, it is a New Thing, God is doing a New Thing? I don't understand it, it is not in the Scripture, but I don't want to stand against the Holy Ghost".

Folks, if it is not in this Book, you must stand up against it. Now the New Thing is that you can't enter the Kingdom of God except you come as a little babe. The people come with diapers under their outer clothing so that they can defecate and urinate in the meetings. This is the New Thing. Folks, where does it end?

A pastor said, "Is it come down to this, that one day some evangelist stands up and says, 'I've got a revelation from the Lord, it is time to add Mary to your worship". That is what it is going to come to.

Another evangelist calls himself the Holy Ghost Bartender. [Rodney Howard Browne] He says, "Belly up to the bar and take a drink of the Holy Ghost." They call that drinking the new wine. I hear ringing in my ears the prophet that said, "The day of the Lord is at hand. Wickedness abounds. Weep between the porch and the altar. Put on sackcloth. Fast and mourn for the backsliding of my people."

Jesus is about to come. The masses are unreached. When I see Christians belly up to what is called the "Holy Ghost Bar", staggering like drunkards, Joel's words come to me loud and clear, "Awake you drunkards and weep all you who drink new wine because the harvest in the field is perished."

Souls are dying by the thousands, what are you laughing about? Anything of the Holy Ghost has to work anywhere on the face of the earth. You have to be able to take it into the most vile wicked places. You have to take it into poverty nations. You have to take it to the dregs of humanity and it has to work there. It can't work just in prosperous America. It has to work everywhere on the face of the earth.

I dare these men take this gospel, the laughing gospel into the Balkans now. Go into the refugee camps where wives are crying because they saw their husbands shot. Their daughters have been raped. Their children are hungry. They have lost their homes and go in there and ask them to "belly up to the bar" - the Holy Ghost wants you to laugh. This so-called revival is coming to Madison Square Gardens this summer. Knowing what you know about the Scripture, carrying the grief and the burden for the Solemn Assembly, how can you even conceive of embracing such a doctrine?

Let me tell you who is laughing. The world. The ungodly, the heathen. It has become a spectacle. In a time so close to the coming of the Lord when the Church of Jesus Christ ought to be shut away in a secret closet of prayer. Where it ought to be weeping for the lost. Where it ought to have the desire to forsake all and follow Jesus. Where there should never be a mention of the dollar bill. The American god. The American idolatry. We have the world looking at this foolishness and do you know what they are thinking now - that the Holy Ghost is a Ringmaster. It is a Charismatic Circus.

I don't care what anybody thinks any more. I don't care if people drop off the mailing list. I care for their souls and the fact that many are into this blindness. I have a duty before God to stand before the congregation that He has called me to minister to and warn you and tell you that these are reproaches of the Solemn Assembly and the Bible says that you are to be sorrowful about it. The elders are to be sorrowful. The congregation, the Pastors, the Ministers, the Evangelists, We should be praying down these strongholds.

Finally, the reproach of downgrading depravity in the Church. Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil - that put darkness for light and light for darkness. They put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. (Jer. 23:15).


I've seen in the prophets a horrible thing. They commit adultery, they walk in lies, they strengthen also the hands of evil doer and non returns from his wickedness."

I received a letter this past week from an irate Christian woman. She said, "My husband, who is supposed to be a Christian, is a big time gambler, in the millions." She said, "I've been so concerned with the crowd and the danger he is in". I thought, "I'll urge him to go to the pastor."

She said, "Brother Wilkerson, you will not believe what happened. I am so angry, hurt and confused. I sent my multi-million dollar gambling husband to my pastor."

He said, "I have searched the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and I can't find one thing in the scripture against gambling. I see no sin in it, enjoy yourself." She was dumbfounded, "How can a man of God say such a thing to my husband?"

This is exactly what Jeremiah meant, "the pastors strengthen the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness." He explains why they have downgraded depravity in their congregation and why they are calling evil good and good evil and bitter sweet and sweet bitter.

He said, "The prophets have committed adultery and are walking in lies." Any man that has sin in his life is not going to get up and talk about sin in the camp. He is convicted by his own adultery, his own sin and his own evil mind.

I am not painting every minister in the country with this brush. The majority of ministers are on fire for God. There young ministers so clean and so pure in this wicked day and age. I've met many of them and I thank God for them. Even in this City I've met some of the most righteous preachers I've ever met in my lifetime.

Multitudes of ministers feel just like I feel this morning and they are looking and waiting for voices to expose that which is evil. "If they had stood in my council and had caused my people to heard my words. . if they were speaking what I really have in my heart. If they were speaking the mind of God, they should have turned the people away from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings"

You can tell if a man knows the Lord. God says of the others, "I didn't send them, I didn't speak to them. They speak their own mind out of their own imagination. Out of the evil of their own hearts."


"They speak of vision of their own heart, I sent them not. I have not spoken to them. They say unto them that despise me, 'the Lord said, you shall have peace' and they say unto every one that walks after the imagination of his own heart, 'no evil shall come upon there.'"

The reproach upon the Solemn Assembly should be the greatest sorrow to every one who loves Christ and His Church. This should be the greatest sorrow in our heart - these reproaches on His name and on His Church. Weep over the condition of the Church.

When you take your stand and when you take on the burden of the Lord, by fasting and prayer. Every child of God needs to be praying that everyone in this snare will be delivered. Don't touch it, don't go near it, if you go in just out of curiosity it will grab you because it appeals to everything of the flesh.

Until you know how to deal with the flesh with the power of the Holy Ghost, stay away from it. Jeremiah said, "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is Mighty. He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing."

Why? Because He has found a people who are sorrowful over the things that sorrow His heart. Who carry the burden that He carries, the Reproach of the Solemn Assembly.

This is going to become a "love-trap" . You will hear this: "We love everybody. It doesn't matter what you preach. It doesn't matter if you are in prosperity. It doesn't matter what your gospel is - or anything else. God is love. Let us all just get together and embrace one another."

How can two walk together unless they be agreed. How can you walk with those when you don't agree with the unscriptural practices, you can not. That is a love trap. They say, "Don't condemn anybody. Don't judge anybody."

That is not what the Bible says. It says that we are to judge righteous judgement. Reprove and rebuke with all longsuffering. I am not on a soapbox, I am on a Rock. God is trying to save you, Church.

What are the riches of God in Christ Jesus? The peace of God, the wisdom of God, the nearness of Christ, all that is in Christ is ours. . . . .

Folks, beware! Beware! Have I scared you? Are you ready to take on the burden of the Lord.
You can't do that in your own flesh. Get alone with God!

The time has come to call a Solemn Assembly. If you have any of these tapes or books, get them out of your house. Don't give them away, burn them. If somebody invites you to go to these things, say, "I'm sorry, I don't want a famine of the Word and I don't my heart to whither and dry. I want the pure Word of the Lord that will cause me to grow. I don't want any message that is going to appeal to my flesh or to foster covetousness in my spirit."

God does supply needs and He is a miracle working God, but He does it only His way. Not by misappropriating and not mis-using the scripture.

Abraham was not looking at things on earth, He was looking for a City whose Builder and Maker is God.


The late David Wilkerson's sermons can be heard and downloaded here: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=27

Cessationist John MacArthur Can't Put the Real Holy Spirit Fire Out by R. LOREN SANDFORD

Author's Note: Recently I became aware of the buzz surrounding a new book, soon to be released, by a prominent cessationist who has been around for a long time. I was asked by the Pneuma Foundation to write a review of this book for its Pneuma Review publication. I thought it important enough to share with all of you. Here it is.

Strange Fire by John MacArthur is basically an attack on anything and everything related to the charismatic movement and the various movements descended from it, as if the whole of it were composed of one monolithic set of doctrines and practices that all of us espouse. It invalidates anything that smacks of the supernatural or of emotion freely expressed in God's presence.

MacArthur pours his vitriol—and I mean vitriol—through the filter of his own prejudices and theological presuppositions in a way that blinds him to the differences between the various movements within the charismatic stream and causes him to deny the existence of the majority of us who do not agree with or practice the abuses he objects to. In doing so, he ignores or reinterprets, through very poor exegesis, the clear teaching of much of the Scripture as well.

Ironically, as he formulates his attack, he builds upon concerns that many of us in the movement share. I share his concern over abuses in prophetic ministry, aberrant doctrines, fallen leaders, manipulative fundraising, acting out in fleshly ways that are not of the Spirit and fakery on the part of some associated with the movement. As an insider, I confront these things as well, seeking what is genuine and calling for biblical grounding. MacArthur commits grievous error, however, in claiming that these abuses characterize the movement as a whole. They do not.

For example, I am a charismatic and have been from my childhood in the 1950s. I am also a 1976 graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. Consequently, I have been steeped in exegetical principle and the doctrines of the historic faith from a time when Fuller described itself as "reformed" in its theology. Consequently, I do not embrace aberrant theologies.

Reading MacArthur, you'd think all charismatics espouse prosperity teaching. We do not. You’d think we are all Word of Faith adherents when, in fact, they constitute a small minority and promote a doctrine many of us oppose. I actually wrote a rebuttal of those two doctrines in my own book Purifying the Prophetic.

On a side note, in his introduction, MacArthur asserts that Fuller Theological Seminary abandoned the doctrine of biblical inerrancy in the early 1970s. I was there from 1973 until my graduation in 1976, and I can state categorically that Fuller at that time held to inerrancy. MacArthur is wrong on many fronts and should be held accountable for what is either blatant intellectual dishonesty or just inexcusably sloppy research.

In reading MacArthur uncritically, you'd think that all charismatics focus in unbalanced ways on manifestations and behavioral aberrations like barking and animal sounds. We do not. Over the years, I've spent at least a cumulative five months in meetings at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, now known as Catch the Fire, serving for 14 years in leadership as a regional coordinator and international council member. Never in all that time did I hear an animal sound. I think MacArthur must be reacting to what he has heard from other revival critics rather than his own eyewitness experience. This, again, constitutes intellectual dishonesty and sloppy research.

MacArthur states, "I'll start believing that the truth prevails in the charismatic movement when I see the leaders, who are the people who are most exposed to its principles, looking more like Jesus Christ."

Yes, some very few of us have been guilty of seeking or walking in anointing without character. Our exercise of church discipline in response to their failings has often been deficient. Tragically, some of those failures have been seen in people with prominent ministries, and as a result we have all had to wear the mud we didn't deserve.

The truth is that the foundation of the Toronto Blessing, for instance, was and is the kind of transformation of character to conform to the image of Jesus (Rom. 8:29) that has produced people like Rolland and Heidi Baker. In their ministry in Mozambique, not only are many thousands of orphans given homes and countless thousands of hungry fed, but thousands of churches are planted, hundreds of thousands come to Jesus, the dead are raised, the sick are healed and the lame walk. The vast majority of lesser-known leaders in the renewal go quietly about the business of doing those same things in the places where they labor all over the world. The fallen leaders and those operating with less than the character of Jesus to whom John MacArthur actually objects are not my leaders and never were for a majority of us.

In bashing spiritual gifts, MacArthur characterizes the gift of tongues, for instance, as "babble," relegating it to the flames of "strange fire," seemingly ignoring the clear teaching of Scripture on the various uses of it. It was evangelistic on the Day of Pentecost, but Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 clearly defines its use in corporate prayer (with interpretation) and for private personal edification, saying, "I wish that you all spoke in tongues." The 120 did, in fact, speak in tongues on the Day of Pentecost. Paul did, in fact, franchise its disciplined use in gatherings in Corinth and clearly described it as praying with an unfruitful mind for personal edification. Nowhere does the Scripture say that any of the supernatural gifts would cease.

MacArthur cries out against people falling into senseless trances but seems to miss that this very same thing happened to Daniel, who broke into physical trembling when the angel touched him after he awakened from what was clearly a trance state. MacArthur seems to miss that the priests at the dedication of Solomon's temple couldn't stand up under the weight of the presence of the glory of God. And didn't the disciples appear to be drunk on the Day of Pentecost? Speaking in foreign languages would have attracted little attention in a city where many thousands of Jews from different regions of the world had gathered for the feast, so it had to be their drunken behavior under the power of the Spirit that drew the comments. Through the filter of his cessationist theology, when these things happen today, McArthur calls them "strange fire."

This book isn't about strange fire. It's about putting the fire out.

This review by R. Loren Sandford is reprinted with permission from PneumaReview.com, the journal of ministry resources for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders, as part of their conversation about MacArthur's book, "Are Pentecostals Offering Strange Fire?"

R. Loren Sandford is the founder and senior pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver, Colo. He is a songwriter, recording artist and worship leader, as well as the author of several books, including Understanding Prophetic People, The Prophetic Church and his latest, Visions of the Coming Days: What to Look For and How to Prepare, which are available with other resources at the church's website. 

10 Ways the Word of Faith Movement (Kenneth Hagin) Went Wrong by JOSEPH MATTERA

As a product of the Word of Faith movement in the early 1980s, I will forever be indebted to the books and teachings of Kenneth Hagin Sr., Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, T.L. Osborn and the like. These were holy men of integrity who turned the world upside down with their faith and teaching.

I learned how to pray for the sick by reading Osborn’s book Healing the Sick, and I learned how to resist the devil by reading Hagin’s The Believer’s Authority. In reading many biographies of Smith Wigglesworth, I have always been challenged by his utter consecration to Christ and to walk in the light of His Word whether in or out of the pulpit. I shudder to think where I would be right now if not for being influenced by these men and this movement.

That being said, as I continued to grow in the Lord and His Word, I saw several flaws in the teaching and in the movement in general. This article is not meant to dampen anyone’s faith but to bring a more balanced picture of the ways of God—especially since many have been discouraged in this movement because they did not understand the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and did not have a theology that included certain things that challenged their faith.

I have found that whenever we preach or emphasize one truth of God’s Word to the exclusion of the others, it becomes a mixture and produces both good and bad fruit. For example, this has happened with the hypergrace movement, as well as the view of hyperfaith. From an overemphasis on outward holiness, we get legalism. And we come into a form of fatalism when we emphasize God’s sovereignty at the expense of human responsibility.

However, I will go on record saying that I would much rather be with people attempting to walk in faith and victory than be hanging out with depressed saints filled with unbelief and doubt. Also, like most other movements, the Word of Faith movement restored to the body of Christ a biblical truth that was neglected by the church—and in doing so, overemphasized it. But after several years, more balance comes as folks like myself “eat the meat and spit out the bones.” Also, I believe that Brother Hagin never approved of some of the excesses that came out of the faith camp—especially regarding the unbalanced teachings on prosperity that came from some of his more radical followers.

The following are some of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement from my perspective (and I realize these are generalizations that don’t fit exactly every person classified as “Word of Faith”):

1. They preach a “rights centered” gospel rather then a "stewardship centered" gospel.

Perhaps influenced by our Jeffersonian heritage of individual rights in America, the way the gospel is applied to individuals in the Word of Faith movement is based on personal rights in Christ. Although this is partially true, the New Testament balances our rights in Christ with our responsibility that goes along with these rights.

For example, in Deuteronomy 8:18, we learn that God gave believers “power to get wealth, that His may establish His covenant.” This passage clearly teaches us the primary purpose of prosperity is for the kingdom—not only for our individual comfort and pleasure. Many in the faith movement used to “claim” houses and cars and attempt to use their faith merely for their own individual needs, which, in and of itself, goes against our call to seek first His kingdom (Matt. 6:33) as a prerequisite for our individual needs and wants being fulfilled.

2. Their dispensational belief precludes the role and importance of the Old Covenant in the New Covenant age.

I heard Brother Hagin brag several times in his teaching sessions that he did not read the Old Covenant because we have a new and better covenant now in Christ. The challenge with that teaching is that he did not understand the relevance and role of the moral and civic law of God found from Exodus to Deuteronomy—especially the Ten Commandments that were repeated over and over again either exactly or in principle by the New Testament writers. Without the moral law of God, we have no standard for holiness and will lack the conviction of sin the moral law gives as our standard of holiness and ethics.

Furthermore, Hagin and others like him would only quote the Old Testament when convenient—when it comported to his view of faith. For example, he would quote Exodus 23:25, where God told the Jews He would take sickness from them, but he neglected to also teach that in order to walk in health, they had to follow the strict dietary code as found in Leviticus 11. Thus, healing for the Jews included not only claiming a promise of God but also staying away from unclean food. (In my opinion, walking in physical health also involves having a healthy diet and lifestyle—or else we are tempting God by intentionally violating His natural laws and then expecting Him to heal us.)

3. They have a semi-gnostic dualism regarding their view of God.

Word of Faith preachers have a simple view of God: Everything that is good is of God, and everything bad is from the devil.

While I totally agree God is a good God, sometimes He has to bring judgment or allow things to take place that in our natural minds may be interpreted as bad. What do Word of Faith preachers do with passages like Isaiah 45:7, in which God says He not only brings prosperity but also disaster? Or 2 Samuel 24:13, where God told King David to choose one of three calamities He would bring upon the land of Israel as punishment for his sin? Or Amos 3:6, which clearly says God sometimes brings disaster to a city? What about the book of Job, where God allows Satan to afflict Job physically with boils as well as bring disaster to other areas of his life?

I remember Brother Hagin teaching that Job doesn’t count in the New Testament because Job 42:10 says God turned the captivity of Job and that Luke 4:18 says Jesus set the captives free. That would all be fine, except for the fact that the book of James carries the life and story of Job into the New Testament for the church age—specifically, James 5:11 offers a lesson for us regarding God’s ways and dealings. (Also, without the book of Job, we have nothing to say to Christians who unexpectedly lose a loved one or experience great personal challenges and loss. Job is comforting to me as a pastor because it shows me that God is sovereign over all things—in both the good and the bad—even when it is hard to explain and understand in the natural. Furthermore, God never gave Job an explanation for why He allowed disaster to strike.)

Finally, what do Word of Faith teachers say about Revelation 2:22-23, where Jesus says that He will cast people on a bed of sickness and even strike people dead? This does not go along with the simple dualism they teach.

Now, I will be the first to say that God’s general will, as revealed in the Gospels, is for divine health (see also 3 John 2) and that, in general, He always wants us healthy in spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) and that Jesus came for us to have an abundant life (John 10:10). But those in the Word of Faith movement have such a narrow view of the Word of God that they do not have any explanations for mysterious things that happen to us that challenge our faith. It is not always true that something bad happened to a person because they had sin (John 9:1-3) or that they didn’t get healed or calamity came to them because they lacked faith. Of course, the instance where Jesus brought sickness and death in Revelation 2:22-23 had to do with disobedience, which took people out from under the covering of the Lord (Ps. 91:1).

In summary, it is still generally God’s will to bring us health and prosperity in the context of obedience to His Word.

4. Positive confession sometimes leads to dishonesty and superficial Christianity.

I have been around many believers who are afraid to be honest and admit they are struggling with their faith. This brings people into bondage and even a form of superficial religion. Some believers are like robots—when you ask them how they are doing, they routinely say, “I am blessed and highly favored!” However, I know some of these people, and they are merely trying to keep a positive confession even though their world is falling apart.

Now, I do believe in speaking the Word of God to our challenging circumstances and not giving in to negative talk, but that is different from what James 5:16 tells us when he exhorts believers to confess their faults one to another. Positive confession is good and biblical (Prov. 18:21) as long as it doesn’t stop a person from getting pastoral counsel and being honest with fellow believers when they need prayer.

5. Their view on prosperity is only based on giving.

While it is true that the Bible teaches we reap what we sow and that if we give, it will be given back to us (Luke 6:38), one of the flaws of the Word of Faith movement is that it only teaches people one side of prosperity. I believe the church needs to equip the saints not only to give but also to get, as well as how to manage what they get  while investing and saving for the future.

When we only teach the saints how to give, we limit the amount of creativity and blessing some people can experience—because without combining giving with hard work, education and an understanding of how to manage and create a budget, many folks will continue in cycles of poverty even though they may experience elements of God’s provision based on their giving. God can only bless in proportion to our ability to manage what He gives us!

In poor countries, I have found that when the only solution presented to the people for breaking poverty is “giving to the church,” the only person who becomes prosperous is the preacher. In the kingdom of God, the church is called to have a more empowering and holistic approach in regard to prosperity and breaking cycles of poverty.

6. They have faith in their faith as a principle rather than it emanating out of the person of Christ.

I have found in many instances where this movement presented faith almost as an impersonal force, like the law of gravity. This led to teachings like “having faith in your faith.” When this is taught, it can disconnect faith from intimacy with the Lord. The more I get to know a person, the more I can trust them. Faith is not a force. It is a result of growing in simple trust based on growing in an experiential knowledge of the Lord. Faith is relational. It is not an impersonal force.



7. Some pastors have modeled their church preaching after these “specialists” in the body. 

Brother Hagin, T.L. Osborn, Smith Wigglesworth and the like were not typical pastors called to oversee a flock. Thus, they were able to preach based on their primary assignment, which was faith and healing.

The challenge is, many pastors who don’t understand this began to mimic these great men of God and attempted to build congregations only around those three themes—faith, prosperity and healing. That is OK if you are a traveling teacher or evangelist, but a congregation needs to have a balanced diet of the Word that includes the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). A pastor needs to preach on healing but also holiness; faith but also tests and trials; moving mountains but also marriage; giving financially but also stewardship and hard work. I love preaching on faith and healing, but as a pastor I often had to preach subjects I really did not have a great passion for but knew others needed to hear to fully mature in the Lord.

8. It can put guilt and bondage on believers.

I have heard of many people who walk around in guilt because they are not healed or because they are struggling financially. In some cases, I have even heard of famous faith preachers who checked into a hospital under a different name so word would not get out that they were sick and under a doctor’s care!

We need to have a culture of faith in our churches, but we also have to engender a culture of humility, honesty and brokenness—admitting that we don’t always walk in victory over sin and sickness as well as making allowances for mystery The fact is, we don’t always understand why certain things happen to believers. (See again the book of Job.)

9. It can produce independent, narcissistic believers.

When the Word of Faith movement went from a stewardship-centered gospel to a rights-centered gospel, it also attracted many self-focused people—people who used God as an excuse for their lavish lifestyles and who frowned upon those living in simplicity. Unfortunately, this teaching often appealed to the narcissistic tendencies in all of us, and many large ministries were built more upon the American Dream of having a nice house and a nice car than upon taking up our cross and following Jesus. Jesus said in Luke 14:33 that we have to lose everything in order to be His disciple, but many in this movement only focus on what we gain. Truly, you can’t be resurrected until you first go to the cross!

10. It is not connected to the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:28.

Last but not least, the Word of Faith movement did not go far enough. Instead of limiting faith to merely believing for individual healing and health, the Word of God teaches that our faith should also transform whole cities and subdue kingdoms! (See Isaiah 61:4 and Hebrews 11:33.) The gospel is a blueprint to disciple and baptize whole people groups, not just individuals (Matt. 28:19-20). It not only deals with individual sinners but systemic evil. The Word of Faith movement, though, brings faith for individual victory but doesn’t say much about corporate victory. However, regarding the community of believers, faith is also based on the corporate culture and anointing of a congregation. (First Corinthians 11:27-32 and Hebrews 3-4 teach that whole congregations can be negatively affected by a culture of unbelief or disobedience.)

The Word of Faith movement in general separated the gospel from the kingdom and, in doing so, made it more about individual prosperity then societal transformation. When you separate the gospel from the kingdom, you tend to become more self-focused because the Good News gets disconnected from our responsibility to steward the earth. With the gospel of the kingdom, we believe in individual, congregational and societal transformation!

Finally, I believe with all of my heart that there was more good than bad in the Word of Faith movement and that it was God’s intention that  biblical faith for the supernatural be restored back to the church. All of us only know in part and see through a glass darkly—even the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 13:9,12). Consequently, it often takes years for the body of Christ to discern how to have balance when old truths are restored. One of the keys to life is balance—and biblical balance cannot come until we attempt to embrace the whole counsel of God!

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y. You can read more on josephmattera.org or connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.