Those 'new gospels'.

*****
( Post made much clearer for non church attenders as there
were a lot of questions.)

Here's the book that started the 'exposing the false teachers' business, 'Christianity in Crisis.'

It does look very good. I have received two e mails asking me how I reconcile advocating 'gifts of the Spirit churches' and the post below: someone has helpfully pointed out that all the 'Christianity in Crisis' book is doing is exposing false teachers, not trying to put down the full Gospel / Charismatic ' or 'Gifts of the Spirit' movements.

Since a lot of these false teachers' stuff is still around.

Am I a 'baptised in the Spirit' Christian, yes.

It looks like a very helpful and sensible book for believers who feel that they need good prayer and deliverance from their situations. People who, in their hour of need, do not need to be scammed.

The areas mentioned in 'Christianity in crisis' that I've had a brief sojourn in, in my Christian life are: the 'new gospels' promoting 'Seed faith' and 'Word faith'. A long time ago, about twenty years ago, when it was new and all over the place, as 'the new thing'. A lot of high profile Charismatic Churches preach it. I never liked it.

The 'Seed faith' gospel basically- as far as I've been involved with it- exploits Jesus' comment:

....And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."

It is obvious what the greedy false 'spiritual leader' ( one who does not love his Lord) will try and do with this. Firstly, he'll state that provided you 'work up your own belief' to the point of being convinced and persuaded that something will come to pass, you'll have enough 'faith' to manoeuvre things into being that are not. That's the 'Seed Faith Gospel.' Most of these leaders are into the 'Prosperity Gospel'; a gospel that tells you to 'believe' for big finance.
Second, such a leader will force others to accept his interpretation of the scripture, take their cash offerings, then blame the lack of miracles in their life on their 'lack of faith.'
I've seen this happening, recently, in one church. People are dumb enough to accept it.

Quick dunce check :-): Jesus came to demonstrate the love of God, fulfill God's plan, and teach us what to do, how to pray, how to be disciples. This was his mission. His ministry clearly implies that 'the seed of faith' needs to come out of a loving relationship with Father God, in which the believer is secure. Evidently, the Holy Spirit will not grant anything that contradicts the words of the bible.

The 'Seed faith' gospel is at the root of the 'Prosperity Gospel.' The Holy Spirit is obviously not 'Prosperity Gospel.' Making others materially rich was not Jesus' mission, At All, far from it, and the disciples were at no stage told to do it.
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven.

Isn't it?

So ask yourselves, ( again) why are there so few miracles in modern times? ( As compared to Jesus' days.) Probably because people are 'believing' for what they want, without consulting Him.

The 'Word faith' gospel is connected to the 'Seed Faith Gospel'. It basically relies heavily on 'the power of the spoken word'. God, it is stated, spoke the universe into being. We were made in his image. Therefore, it suggests, our words have the same creative power as God's. When we're positive, we create life; when we're negative, we create destructive situations in our lives. The 'Word faith Gospe'l is an eclectic mix of scripture and 1980's self improvement course teaching.

It has nothing to do with spiritual rebirth via repentance before Jesus and acknowledging him as Saviour.

If the 'Word faith' gospel were correct, Adam and all his descendants could all exercise the same authority as God, simply by positive talk. And the scriptures state that God's clear answer to that.... was 'no chance.' Surely.

Again, the possibilities for the greedy in the 'Word faith' gospel are vast, and the advocates of the 'Prosperity gospel' are into it. Apparently, all you have to do is 'say what you want into the hemisphere and it will come to pass', provided you keep insisting. It's really something like trying to twist God's arm until it breaks, and getting your own way. It's got nothing to do with seeking the will of God. ( And when a false spiritual leader has got this 'word faith' gospel, he can tell the whole church to join in with what he's 'positively talking about'. And no one objects. They feel uneasy, but no one objects.)

Quick dunce check: The Heavenly Father, the Trinity, God is the source of life, not you. The Heavenly Father spoke the Universe into being while his spirit, the Holy Spirit witnessed it, according to Genesis. The Holy Spirit, His Spirit, was his 'architect'. If you feel you can speak universes into being, fire ahead. If not, you're better off relying on Jesus' guidance on repentance and a relationship with Him.

These ' new gospel faiths' are distortions; theories that seek to put themselves above the simple idea of a Christian walking with his or her Lord as described by the bible. Nonetheless, it's important when you're praying and genuinely believing God for something, having consulted Him, not to be negative, and not to be doubtful. There's nothing wrong with having the seed of faith in your life that's Holy Spirit inspired, which is surely what Jesus was talking about. Any such 'seed' of faith won't contradict the bible. So it's our bibles we need to read.

The 'Word faith' and 'Seed Faith' gospels are marketable distortions of Jesus' words. They package Him up and sell Him.

If you don't want to do that, you're better off than many of these charismatic boomers. And anyway, have you ever noticed how it's the meek, the rather hopeless, the not so great speakers, the simple, who God chooses to use to make His miraculous moves? If you've never noticed, read your bible again.

So there is this crisis it seems. Amongst others... ( People have even gone as far as to try and sell deliverance.) But there's no such title as 'Christ in Crisis'... thank Heaven.

Incidentally I was surprised to see Roger Price mentioned in 'Christianity in crisis.' He was very good, as I remember it. (Update: it was another Price. Glad to hear it. I have not heard these Roger Price tapes, but I would like to. In the old days you had to go and listen in person.) I think, when people are uncovering something wrong in the churches, there can be a tendency to go about applying the discovery to all and sundry, simply because various individuals may have expressed an interest in misguided doctrine at one stage. It's important to guard against that. Everyone's entitled to learn from their mistakes. Preachers included. :-)

Searchlights

*****

This looks good, for those interested: 'Searchlight.' It's a web site set up by serious Christians to warn people about false teaching and speakers and religions.

Here is its statement on Jesus: I agree with it.

I find it helpful as I am looking for a lively church (full gospel) to invest in and stay with. I think I'm happy with one I've recently found ( not the one I have been mentioning lately, though I am not putting this one down at all.) You need to be very sure, as there's a lot of rubbish around; the church should not be doing or saying anything contrary to scripture. Anything.

I am finding that a church can be super for a while, and then someone will come along and try and dominate things with a false idea, or, at times, manipulate tithing and giving believers with bids for cash. The false teaching business does seem to be associated with church leaders making bids for cash quite a bit. Here's someone who's been noticing something long the same lines, here.

There seem to be a number of teachers that the Full Gospel church was taught to respect for some time, who have got into false teaching from time to time. One who isn't cited on the 'Searchlight' website links specifically, is Kenneth E Hagin, ( who recently died) perhaps because his popularity was enormous, and he lived a very loving and caring life. But this, here below, is real rubbish ( Kenneth Hagin's 'prophecy' about the end times; evaluate things for yourselves;) here.

He suggests that Jesus personally appeared to him informing that all was well, and indeed would be throughout the end times. Apparently, the Lord had revised his views, and needed Kenneth Hagin. (And Tulsa ;-) ) Okay, so maybe he was reassuring the Church that the Lord would not leave them, of course he will not leave them- but he does seem to be lulling the Church into complacency, that's what I'm saying.

'On February 18, 2003, the Lord gave the Body of Christ a glimpse into the future through the following prophecy, delivered by Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin during the annual Winter Bible Seminar in Tulsa, OK.

'Many are concerned about the future and they wonder what will happen. Will darkness overtake, or will the light shine bright?

Yea, saith the Lord of hosts, remember that you're in My hands. And remember that I know the future better than you know the past—and all is well!'

Those who put their faith in Christ are in God's hands, but on the 'end times' Jesus said:

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are
nursing babies in those days! Pray (your flight) not happen
in the winter. For those days will be a time of tribulation
such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation
which God created until now, and never will.
Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have
been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose,
He shortened the days.  Mark 13:17-20

That was Jesus on the end times.
There is no 'all is well, and all will be well.' ( This being said, there is
a lot of writing on the end times and prediction in the bible that is 
difficult to decipher.)
I suppose Kenneth Hagin could simply have been saying that the 'Light
will shine for insecure believers'.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Kenneth Hagin also claims in his 'prophecy'
that the Lord Jesus' period in the desert was
'not at all glorious.'

Don't let a very popular and apparently caring speaker replace your own eyes .

Having had a look at the amount of times false teaching appears to have happened in churches of genuine Christian believers ( and how much cash has been made out of them) I feel really irritated by it. According to scripture, believers are supposed to carefully give satan a hard time, not allow him to make mugs of them to that extent. It's time to tell one another to read our bibles and do our homework, it seems. And we could tell these false speakers the same.

If you attend a sermon where a self appointed individual is spouting and /or bullying you for money , don't be afraid to walk out. Only recently I read a very prominent charismatic professed Christian leader's book on the beginning of creation; he wants to tell us that Satan was flung out at' conspiracy stage', ( groan) fallen angels did not become demons until the world was made; etc. etc. He even went as far as to claim that headaches were caused by demons fighting over a person's head.

What's your time worth?

Here. In case you need the biblical reference. Otherwise, take a paracetamol, plonkers.. You probably have a headache because the visiting speaker was booming down the mike so loudly. :-)

Later, a Pastor went on to tell a number of us that we were all 'under Judgement' and would most certainly account to the Lord for our finances. 'What will we say to Jesus about the amount we've given to the church?'
The collections sack was being shaken about as he spoke.
People were sitting there believing it, bibles in hand. They were obviously being pressured and manipulated.

In respect of those Jesus deniers who insist that Satan is not a being, but just an analogy for evil, and that serious evil is some sort of oddity, ( most of them, Church of England) it's worth pointing out that it's quite interesting to see that whenever lies turn up in the churches, there's always a scripture that blatantly and carefully contradicts it. I'll respectfully leave the individual Christian to draw their own conclusions, according to their faith.

At the church I attended, this last Sunday, the speaker ( who I thought was gentle and genuine) read out some stats. If the whole Church of Christ tithed ( and you must tithe, though it needs to come from the heart and your own conviction-it's scripture) world poverty would be erased in two years.

Two years!

So where is it all then?

This church I'm attending gives a great deal to the poor.

I was surprised to see some faith paths and people mentioned by 'Searchlight'; it's worthwhile to have a careful look at it. At times I think it's a little over harsh in that in some of the ministries they describe you meet some serious Christians, caring believers.

I think you have to take extreme care in respect of what you're taught.

Given my situation, I am very interested in getting things right and regaining my understanding of the Love of God after everything that's been done to me.

I think it's very important not to let anyone dominate you or make fabulous unconditional promises, or put pressure on you. If you have a certain knowledge of your faith and your Lord you'll react like a cat with water on its tail if anyone tries to fool you with anything such as this, below:

“Jesus knew the only way He would stop Satan is by becoming one in nature with him....! He did not take my sin, he became my sin. Sin is the nature of hell.....Jesus said ‘I'll be sin...I'll go to the origin of it. I won't just take part in it, I'll become the totality of it....’ He became one with the nature of Satan, so all those who had the nature of Satan can partake of the nature of God.....” ( Benny Hinn, Quoted from – ‘Christianity in Crisis’ by Hank Hanegraaff, 1993 )

“Can you imagine Christ headed for the grave knowing He would remain there forever if the Holy Ghost would change His mind about raising Him from the dead?” ( Benny Hinn, Good Morning Holy Spirit, Word, p.136, 1991 )

I mean that's obvious nonsense.

I'd be interested to see what people think, and what their experiences have been : no web loons or end time 'conspiraloons' please. :-)

Romans:
8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Peace this Friday

Today is the last Friday of the month, when numbers of people whose 'group name' does not merit being mentioned, gather together to attempt to curse believing christians. They spend numerous hours 'sending waves of hate into their lives'. Our church takes a stance against it, and we are praying for believers' protection. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.

Update soon...

Lovely weekend with the church, we went on several outings. Great fun, these are a lovely crowd. Everyone is praying for my healing. We live in hope. Er sorry...faith. :-) I will update soon. x

..... for information, since erroneous postings abound, the 'rapture' described by Jesus and his closest friend the disciple John in the scriptures, and the horrible state of affairs that they warn is to follow, bears no relationship to the 'world order' conspiraloonacy that currently cluelessly abounds. The church being taken out of this world by Jesus' Holy Spirit before the terrible end times is Christian scripture. Jesus warned about being lead astray by obsessive theorists, and false ideas. In sum, He advises 'stay true to your Lord, don't give up, and he will not forget you.'

Simple is gentle. Always.

One of the loveliest 'rapture ready' characters in literature is Reepicheep, C.S. Lewis' creation; a mouse who appears on board the Dawn Treader, a Narnia ship that's thrown about by the waves, and unstable throughout its journey. He's best described here (click). He never gives up, insignificant though all think he is for a long while (including you, the book reader). He always brings the word of faith. He 'petitions the Lion' for a new tail, along with his brave little army, and wins his request. At the unexpected end he sets off in a paddle-boat, and passes through a rainbow into the 'utter east' belonging to Aslan.

'If any of you be deficient in wisdom, let him ask it of God, who gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not, and it shall be given to him. But let him ask in faith, being not at all irresolute: for he who is irresolute, is like a wave of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed. Now let not that man think, that he shall receive any thing from the Lord. A man of two minds, is unstable in all his ways'. (From the epistle of the apostle James).

Taffy

'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth'.

The meek; the simple.

The Lord's prayer is simple.
Simple is gentle.

Always.

There's a dove outside my window. He seems to have moved in, and sits there in the early hours, calling me, pestering me, every few minutes.

Tamara's a little girl from the small street where I'm staying. She can hear him; she starts, fixates and raises her bemused eyes wide, whenever he begins .

'Take two turns, Taffy!
'Take two turns!
Take two turns; Taffy!'

'Take two turns, Taffy!'

Taffy sounds like a market seller, wandering, calling out. A seller in King Solomon's square.

'Does not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice?' (From the book of Proverbs, written by King Solomon, the 'King James' bible.)

A seller's cry, or a warning call, a dove's gentle warning.

'Take two turns! Take two turns, Taffy!'

While Jesus was baptised, the sky opened, and the voice of the Holy Spirit came through in the sunshine; the Father's voice. When Jesus came up out of the water everyone saw a dove swoop down, and perch on his shoulder. "It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him" (Mk 1:9-10).



When Jesus saw the Jerusalem Temple full of dealers selling doves in cages, (possibly that same week) he turned the tables over, in distress. "My Father's house! My Father's house!" 'And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, / And said to them, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.”'

I heard one of the pastors at my church two days ago speak about the Holy Spirit's work in the last days. It's interesting, he said, the way in people accept Jesus, but the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, they reject it; in a sense they reject him. Some people reject Jesus ; others, the Holy Spirit, through rejecting his gifts. Yet when Jesus was on earth, His Spirit was the Holy Spirit. It still is. He had a spirit, like you and I; his spirit was the Holy Spirit. It still is.

'Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who'd been blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said these things, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said to him, "Go and wash in the pool of Siloam". ( Which is translated, 'Sent.') So he went and washed, and came back seeing.'

And Jesus said at the last supper; ' "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. I will send you the Comforter, and he will guide you in all truth".' Who is "The Comforter"? Jesus' Spirit, the Spirit who inspired in him the Love of God, the Spirit who inspired and caused the miracles. He's Jesus. ' "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you".'

To reject the Holy Spirit and his gifts in these last days is to reject Jesus, our church teaches. If we reject Jesus, the scriptures teach, he will not find us when he raptures the church; -we will be 'left behind'. Left behind without the Comforter, without the Holy Spirit. There will be no more Holy Spirit's presence on earth. He'll be gone from the world.


'Listen! Wisdom is calling out
Reason is making herself heard.
On the hilltops near the road and at the Crossroads she stands.
At the entrance to the city besides the gates, she calls:
"I appeal to you, I call everyone on earth.
Are you immature? Learn to be mature.
Are you foolish? Learn to have sense".

Listen! Wisdom is calling out.

"Listen to my excellent words; all I tell you is right.

What I say is the truth; lies are hateful to me.

Everything I say is true; nothing is false or misleading.

To those with insight, it is all clear;

to the well-informed, it is all plain.

Choose my instruction instead of silver;

choose knowledge rather than the finest gold.

I am Wisdom, I am better than jewels;

nothing you want can compare with me.

I am Wisdom, and I have insight;

I have knowledge and sound judgment.

To honor the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words.

I make plans and carry them out.

I have understanding, and I am strong.

I help kings to govern and rulers to make good laws.

Every ruler on earth governs with my help, officials and nobles alike.

I love those who love me; whoever looks for me can find me.

I have riches and honor to give, prosperity and success.

What you get from me is better than the finest gold,

better than the purest silver.

I walk the way of righteousness;

I follow the paths of justice, giving wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures.

..The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago.

I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began.

I was born before the oceans, when there were no springs of water.

I was born before the mountains, before the hills were set in place,

before God made the earth and its fields or even the first handful of soil.

I was there when he set the sky in place,

when he stretched the horizon across the ocean,

when he placed the clouds in the sky,

when he opened the springs of the ocean

and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said.

I was there when he laid the earth's foundations.

I was beside him like an architect,

I was his daily source of joy, always happy in his presence-

happy with the world and pleased with mankind.

..Now, young people, listen to me. Do as I say, and you will be happy.

Listen to what you are taught. Be wise; do not neglect it.

Those who listen to me will be happy-

those who stay at my door every day, waiting at the entrance to my home.

Those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them.

Those who do not find me hurt themselves;

anyone who hates me loves death." '

From the writings of Solomon, king of Israel, the book of Proverbs chapter 8.

Chief Commissioner's case adjourned

The Chief Commissioner's case at Chancery Lane has been adjourned by the Judges at Chancery Lane until the end of May. Good work by Hickman and Rose. This case is not to be confused with the criminal appeal case, appeal of conviction and sentence, which takes place on the 19th of May at the Crown Court at Snaresbrook.

Celtic helmets....

'Stooop arguinnngg', was what he said, the Greek hairdresser who grabbed a hold of my crown, and slammed it forwards, onto the table. I was already terrified about his highlights extravaganza to the point of knockerty-knees, and he caught me unawares.

I was unable to conscientiously object while my face was buried on the table before me in a heap of mysterious creams, lotions and potions. I could only peek on in desperation while he hacked rigorously away at my locks as though they were tree roots on some obtuse, objectionable stump.

The stump in question, being my head.

When his entire family zoomed over scissors in hand to join him in his inspiration venture I gave up objecting. It was like being on the consultant's couch, almost; all I can strictly recall is terrifying evidence of me kicking about the shop floor. The sense of spiritual tragedy. Long, carefully cultured, valued and nurtured, whisps and reams.. of sun kissed hair.

I felt shock, bereavement. A nauseous feeling. Something akin to the first stages of mourning.

He pulled me up and my head flew back and hit the chair with a thunderous crash. He began slapping my semi conscious face, knocking it from side to side. I don't know quite what this was about; perhaps it was in an attempt to bring me back to full consciousness. On it went, while the hairdryer raced. 'Do this! Do that!' 'Move this way', 'Lean back sixty degrees'...'turn your chin over towards me'
.. the terrible sense of shock, bereavement. As if I were inside a falling plane, following pointless airbag instructions.

Suddenly, without warning, his infernal hair dryer ground to a halt and we landed with a bump. I inspected the terrain, peering out from under a strange, fashionable effort of a fringe at what seemed to be a reflection before me of a woman who, according to my manual, prides herself on her dignity, her individuality..

He has Cut off All My Hair....

I love it, actually. It took me three hours to stop grieving, but I love it. They're like little Celtic helmets, these new short layered styles. Think whasser-name, in 'You've Got Mail.' A little bit longer.
I'll dream about him chasing me down the road with some huge, terrifying pair of scissors. No doubt.

All the same I don't know why women of my age make such a fuss about changing their hair, or why their offspring lift their eyes heavenward at the state of their 'adaptive wardrobes'. All that's needed is a little courage and fashion sense, surely.

;-)

*****

Requests to see a picture of the result, I don't know, we'll have to see. .. I certainly am tired of the ludicrous spiteful descriptions of me circulating. Last time I posted my picture on the web it was subjected to a lot of criminal abuse by people in the mainstream press and on abuse blogs, who know no better, and who are to be pitied, having been educated in the commercial gutter. Incidentally though, the picture (here) described in the mainstream press on the advice of my main false accuser ( and head of their gang) as being ten years old, is in fact four years old. The other picture used is only three years old. Of. course. I look a little bit older, but not significantly, I don't think, contrary to the 'descriptions' circulating.

Picture the face in the picture with the hair cut described, for now- afew shades lighter, thanks to the highlights extravaganza....

Footnote: I feel like a Melita beacon. :-) I am having some low lights put in.