Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think I am

I was accosted a little bit ago by a little woman clutching a bag full of gospel tracts, a Bible, and other belongings. She was all of 4 foot 11 at the most. This may sound mean, but she would certainly make the top 10 list of ugliest women I have ever met in my lifetime. She had a bulbous nose that almost looked like a male appendage dangling from her face, a mustache, and she could floss her teeth with rope there were so many of them missing. All of this aside, she was rude and obnoxious.

When Sharon and I got out of the car a few minutes ago, she came up to us as we crossed the street for our stop at Creech's Drug Store. Sharon got an antibiotic prescription because she has the flu. This lady asked us if we knew the Lord. I informed her that both my wife and I were born again Christians. We kept walking, but she started to follow like a puppy dog. She asked if I was Spirit filled, to which I replied I was. By this time, Sharon kept walking and was entering the store. Then she inquired as to how often I read the Bible or had prayer time. I was getting annoyed at this point, since the purpose of evangelism is not to pester the saved, but to save the lost.

When I stopped and sighed, she said, "Oh, that's it, isn't it? You are comfortable and need to have a relationship with Him. You need to get on fire for the Lord. I have been saved 31 years now and am as on fire today as the day I got saved. You need to do [thus and so]..." I attempted to discuss that issue with her, but she kept being rude and running over even the first two words out of my mouth. When I did get in any words, I attempted to let her know that she is sadly mistaken if she thinks that the measure of spirituality is how much you read the Bible or spend in prayer and that she is being extremely legalistic if she believes that if people do not spend as much time reading scripture as she deems we should, then we are somehow weak or lukewarm.

She quickly informed me that she is not under the law and is therefore not legalistic. I let her know right quick that she is a Pharisee if she is attempting to lay a standard on others to her liking. Of course, she came back with the obligatory quotes that if you are lukewarm (according to her definition, of course) then God would spew you out of His mouth, that we are to study to show ourselves approved, yadda, yadda, yadda. She said that I was going to miss "the rapture" if I was not on fire and basically that her prescription for a measure of fire intensity was appropriate.

I informed her that she just exemplified why so many people do not respond to her message, which she refuted. She just claimed that it was divine providence that she met me and was to warn me...all because I was not in agreement with her methodology and did not feel like being pestered. It is one thing to preach on the streets. I have done so. I also preached in prisons for several years. I have seen hundreds take decisions for Jesus. I have also seen many self righteous, pompous asses give their own prescriptions for the way to have a relationship with God. This ugly little lady, though I admire the fact that she is preaching the gospel to people, is unfortunately just one more self righteous individual that places her standards upon other people. If the others do not measure up to her, then they are less right in the sight of God and need to follow her example.

I feel bad that I was annoyed with this lady and that I felt the way I did about her appearance. However, I do not feel bad about my resisting her call to the way to being "rapture ready" or to a right relationship with God. As soon as I told her that I was a born again Christian, that should have ended all efforts of evangelism. Instead, she chose to be offensive, rude, and legalistic.

And people wonder why their efforts to win the lost are oft in vain. I forgot more scripture than this lady probably ever memorized. She has no idea what sort of study or prayer habits I have or the fellowship I have with my Lord or my fellow believers. She has no idea the topics of discussion I have with others nor the measure of walking out my faith I exemplify. I will applaud a non-charismaniac who gives to and ministers to the needs of those who have needs over someone who randomly uses the shotgun approach to evangelism and is obnoxious any day.

When I informed her that I was in the ministry for years and that she is not going to get away with perpetrating a false rhema upon me, since I have walked in that calling for years, she immediately shut down, got all the more defensive, and made the excuse that she had to go catch other people she saw on the street before she left in disgust.

Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt it.

Being wary of false prophets

Perhaps I am too sensitive to the topic of the false amongst the flock of God. I have met some of the people who are big named ministers today. I have had the opportunity to have meals with, be involved with, listen to, and correspond with several such ministers over the years. I lost a position as a deacon because I refused to sit under a false prophet's teachings during a revival. I left a couple of churches because of their false teachings. I have even been thrown out by those with false teachings. One was a congregation I helped found.

A friend of mine who has seen many of the same things I have seen with false prophets called me over a month ago about some revival going on in Florida. The revival is on television on some obscure satellite network that I do not get on cable. It is also web cast on the internet. My friend named a few ministers who are involved in this "revival". I personally have been around one of the names he mentioned and knew from whence this man came. I sat for several days right behind him in a prayer gathering in Jacksonville, Florida that lasted several days. I saw this man "in action" so to speak, as he was one of the "one and twenty elders" as I termed them. 21 people that the lady who organized the meeting felt were at the "forefront of the prophetic ministry" were guests and acted as elders to judge every prophetic word or deed in that meeting.

What the leader missed was that there were people who walked much deeper in that office or anointing that were sitting in the pews than the ones she hand picked. Of course she did not know those people, but it was not hard to pick them out by the Spirit of God.

I watched as this particular man, who is on the internet a lot and if I mentioned his name, many Charismatic believers would know exactly who I was writing about and the company he keeps. I will say that I witnessed some way off judgment, a lack of maturity in the very subject they were supposed to be elders and the forefront of, and some serious control/posturing by the one and twenty.

Another man who is at this revival is Todd Bentley. I have seen his name on the internet quite a bit. I have checked out his web site and heard a bit of his teachings. Today, the Religion News Blog had an article on Mr. Bentley which I find curious.

I have seen and heard many ministers that had great claims in the faith. They had alleged healings, allegedly raised the dead, and performed miracles. Hey, I have not raised the dead, but I have seen healings and what some would consider to be miracles at my own hand. I have heard claims of men talking with angels. One such man in particular was Mack Timberlake. The same claims are being made by Bentley.

The Religion News Blog asks a simple question. Where is the evidence supporting his claims? That is a reasonable question. I have no problem with the idea of making claims that are true. I just made a few in my post about my own self. Nonetheless, Bentley is preaching to thousands, maybe millions. He is making some grandiose claims of things way out of the ordinary. Apparently, he has had to distance himself from the revival after an expose on network television.

From the RNB piece:

Bentley told stories of remarkable healings. In fact, he claims that in his ministry 30 people have now been raised from the dead. Are these stories credible? A common pattern in his accounts of healing was an absence of specificity. Bentley claims that one man, unembalmed, had been dead for 48 hours and was in a coffin. When the family gathered around at a funeral home, the man knocked from inside the coffin to be let out.

But what are the specifics? Who was this man? What’s his name? Where’s the death certificate? And why not parade the man at Bentley’s meetings? If I am ever raised from the dead through anyone’s ministry, you can be sure I’ll put in a guest appearance. Bentley claims that he is having a team investigate healings performed under his ministry and will soon go public with the evidence.

It is people like this that give the rest of Christendom a bad name. I believe in tongues, prophecy, healing, and miracles. I have often said that the prophetic ministers in the church have shot themselves in the foot and ruined things for those who came after with a legitimate and mature gifting. The same goes for healing evangelists and others. It is sad that in order to find sound teaching, I have to fellowship with cessationalists, meaning those who believe that such spiritual gifts are no longer for today.

Here is a video on Youtube that is on one of the web pages I linked you to.


I weep for the Church because of things like this. I stayed away from Christianity for years because of such people. After getting saved, I hung out with such people. After learning to discern the true from the false, I again separated myself from the Church for years, but not before I attempted to have regular, sustained fellowship with different groups and after seeking something different. I ran across hyper critical pastors, hypo critical ones, ignorant people, some apathetic ones, and some just plain heretics. After beating your head against the wall for years, it makes you want to withdraw.

For the past 8 or 9 months, I have been fellowshipping in two different churches. One of which I decided that I would no longer attend regularly because of its leadership, control, and lack of fellowship. The other I have attended more regularly since and have become fairly involved. As much as I love miracles, healings, signs, and wonders, I have a great appreciation for doctrine. I find it ironic that those who major on the gifts of the Spirit often lack the fruit of the Spirit. Those who major on developing the fruit often never experience the gifts. What irony. I have been attending a solid, evangelical congregation for a while, and have enjoyed the participation and fellowship that has been growing amongst the brethren. I need to step up my fellowship with other believers, and so I should probably do so soon. I will still feel like Jeremiah and weep over those who are duped by the false, though. It not only makes me sad, but indignant with a righteous anger within.

Follow up to T.D. Jakes post

New Jersey pastor saddened by Jakes praising of Obama

Fellow black pastor Clenard Childress says Jakes, the man Time Magazine and CNN once referred to as "America's Best Preacher," is showing that biblical moral values are not his top priority...

...says he is saddened that Jakes and others in the black community have "lost sight of the values that made this nation great and made African-Americans a resilient people"...

...Childress says it will be difficult for Jakes to preach biblical moral values to his church members now that he has aligned himself with a politician who has no problem with abortion and homosexuality.

Here is the full story.

Yup. Uh huh. Amen.