I write this post in love and concern for my brothers and sisters who are professing Christians. Please if you are involved in any of these practices, read this with an open mind, and watch the videos posted below. We are living in days in which there is much spiritual deception and God has warned us to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”. He says that “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”.
Holy Spirit or Lying Spirit?
Cindy Jacobs, Todd Bentley, Rick Joyner, Mike Bickle, Lou Engel, New Latter Rain, Prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation, Tongues, Slain in the Spirit, Impartations. These are names and terms common to some sectors of Evangelical Christianity today.
I would like to propose to you that Evangelicals who are participating in these manifestations are preaching what the Bible calls “another gospel” and worshipping what the Bible calls a “false Jesus” or an anti-christ, if you will. Jacobs, Bently, Joyner all claim to be prophets who have received direct revelation from God or from angelic beings. However the Scripture plainly tells us that the Holy Bible is the full revelation of God and that anyone who adds to or takes away from that Word shall have his name removed from the book of life. (Revelation 22:18-19)
I Corinthians 10:20b says I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
Many people have created an image in their own mind of what Jesus and God are like, and worship that image, and these evil sprit beings are more than happy to personify themselves according to those ” vain imaginations”. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
We are to go on KNOWLEDGE, (found in scripture) as opposed to what we imagine and feel.
Speaking in tongues, this “slaying in the spirit” and the “impartations” bring with them feelings of euphoria, and love and goodness and power. And that feels like what we imagine the presence of God to be, therefore beccause it “feels so amazing” people often do not question it. After all, they say, “it feels so right, it can only be the Spirit of God”. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2Cor. 11:14). This is precisely why God said to cast down imaginations and any thing that exalteth itself against the KNOWLEDGE of God. One must always, always, always examine these practices in light of scripture.
Jesus Himself said an evil generation seeketh after a sign. (Matthew 12: 39)
I am not saying God does not heal today, but am referring to the “gift of healing”. As for tongues, (which I’m not specifically going to expound upon here, for the sake of space) there are many scriptures which address it as needing to be “in turn” (not chaotic, one at a time) and “in order”, and always interpreted. The tongues of that day were also always known and pre–existing languages”, as evidenced by people hearing the gospel in their own language. Those qualifiers alone would strike down as being unscriptural, most of the practice of tongues which goes on in churches today on those points alone, however, beyond that, please consider the following in regards to healing and tongues:
If you were to read the epistles in order they were written, it shows that beyond the time period when the events of Acts took place, including events in Galations, 1 and 2 Thes., 1 and 2 Cor. and Romans,( written in the same period as the events of Acts), were the only places in scripture that the sign gifts were recorded as taking place. By the time Paul went to prison, he could not longer heal his friend Epaphroditus (although God has mercy on him and heals Epaphroditus Himself). It was during Paul’s epistles that the “mystery of the church” was being revealed. Early on it was revealed only “in part”. (1 Cor. 3:12 “now I know (gnosis) in part). But by the end of the writing of the Epistles it was fully revealed. (As indicated by the use of the word “Epignosis” in the later epistles written in prison, and during the pastoral epistles).“For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge (epignosis: full knowledge) of the Mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ. Colossians 2:1-2. In Ephesians (written in prison) 5:17-19 he talks about being filled with the spirit, but no mention of speaking in tongues, but instead, “speak to yourselves in psalms and spiritual songs”. The sign gifts were just that, for a sign to convince the Jews, who required a sign (I Corinthians 1:20-24), of this new thing called the church. Once the Jews understood this new dispensation (of grace) and the church was established including the Gentiles (Acts 10), throughout the “known world” at the time, then these signs were no longer needed. I Corinthians 13:8 says even tells us that tongues shall cease, (in those very words in the KJV).
When I asked a pastor who ascribed to tongues-speaking how it works, he said “you just have to trust in it and just sort of “let go of control” and let your mouth be taken over by the spirit”. But when I asked him “what about Galations 5:22 where it says one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control (temperance), he didn’t have an answer to that. The Bible tells us to be sober, not “drunk in the spirit”. There is no scripture that speaks of drunkenness “in the Spirit”. The Scriptures are the test. If something is being practiced in your church and you can’t find it in scripture, you should be suspicious of it. When the Bible says test the spirits, it is not telling you to test it with your feelings. God expects you to test it according to what He has written about Himself and the Holy Spirit in His word.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the one UNPARDONABLE sin. There are a couple of ways someone can blaspheme the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit is the One who convicts you of your sin and need for salvation. If He convicts you, yet you deny your need for a savior, you are calling the Holy Spirit a liar. The Holy Spirit cannot lie. This is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But when demonic powers are manifesting themselves in church services through “impartation” and what is referred to as “slaying in the spirit” and “drunkenness in the spirit”, this designation of the demonic manifestations as being “of the Holy Spirit” is also blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The consequences of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can be found in Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: and Luke 12:10: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
This “false Jesus”, “false Holy Spirt” and these false manifestations that are being embraced today are part of God’s judgment leading up to His ultimate judgment(which will come in the tribulation). 2 Thes. 2:9-12 says: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness This is part of the Apostacy. It is a falling away from the truth of the Scriptures. People who seek these things are in danger of being “given up” by God, or “given over” by God to them.
Romans 1:24-28 says
24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind
And I Kings 22 Is proof that God gives people over to these lying spirits if those people persist in seeking them: It talks about King Ahab and his 400 false prophets. I suggest reading the whole chapter HERE, but especially note verses 21-22:
21And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 2And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. Notice it was the LORD who sent forth the lying spirit into the mouthes of these prophets to persuade Ahab to his doom at Ramothgiliad. Ahab was one of Israel’s most wicked and ungodly kings.
Please view the videos below, some of which show church services where professing Christians are experiencing things they attribute to the Holy Spirit, and then some of them show the practice of Hindu worship and Kundalini (as in yoga) which springs out of the Hindu religion but has now been embraced by many religions including being practiced in the churches, along with other mystical religious practices such as “centering prayer” or “contemplative prayer” and “prayer labyrinths”. This is a mixing of Eastern mysticism with Christianity and God forbids it “For what fellowship hath light with darkness”
Kundalini Toungues-speaking
Impartations
Serve Him in the Waiting 
Hey, passion is a good thing! I myself have a “once burned, twice shy” kind of paranoia about “tone conveyed in writing” because I learned the hard way just how easily tone gets (I believe intentionally by spiritual forces) distorted. I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end. I tend to have a bit of an unreliable “gatekeeper” between my brain and my mouth and sometimes words escape without the cautionary pass through the filter, so to speak. (I hear the cynical laughter of those who actually know me and their muttered “that’s an understatement” but lets move on). I can look back and cringe at some things that flew out of my mouth (or from my fingers) unchecked and uncensored, and truly not meant in malice. I’ve gotten pretty thick-skinned over the years, but have always been very sensitive (ironic, no?), so it grieves me when I hurt someone with my words. Since I know my mouth, I make it a rule to fess up and apologize, as soon as I can, but know that doesn’t undo the damage. Satan loves to maximize the damage and take full advantage of vulnerabilities, and I think there are many vulnerabities in today’s means of communication which grows more “removed” all the time. Face to face is best, you can see the eyes and body language. By phone is not as good, but at least tone and inflection give us clues to the spirit and intent behind he words. But then comes electronic communication. No tone, no inflection, no eye contact, only those woefully inadequate and annoying emoticons! Electronic communication of all sorts travels the airwaves and we all know who is the Prince of the Power of the Air. (Though that is not to minimize basic human sinfulness or underestimate our propensity to screw up, lol). Hope you and Jacquiline will both keep reading and commenting. 🙂 It’s all under the blood for those who are in Him, right?
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Yes good article. I was a part of the tongues movement for ten years. I understand mtsweat’s openness to considering the hand of God involved in certain practices. But I do disagree with Jonathan Edward’s comment that is listed under this reply. God gave us His word to prove whether something is from Him or not. While the Bible gives us definitions of the “fruit of the Spirit”, these alone cannot prove anything unless they are coupled with sound doctrine. After all, one very reason the disciple John had to write his epistle in 1 John is because there were false deviations from Christianity such as Gnosticism which believed Jesus was not and had not been fleshly matter while on earth and only spirit. All things work together. Other pagan religions can feel peace, joy, love, and gentleness in their practices but they don’t believe right things. So we can’t test things by emotional responses and how things appear based on what appear to be the fruit of the Spirit alone. Since I was a part of the spirit-filled movement for ten years, I can assure you that it is not from God but taps into powers of the occult. The tongues that were prevalent in the Bible times are not the same tongues that exist today but had their origin from a man named Charles Parham in the early 1900’s along with occult people who invaded the “revival” meetings and practiced their spiritualism and other things which involved bad spirits. While in the tongues movement other people and I actually heard something talking to us and bringing us into confusion and traps. At the time we thought it was God. However, the fruit of the Spirit of God was not in this ability. It was a trickery of Satan and actually VERY dangerous. If you want to read more of what I went through and further proof the Biblical tongues doesn’t exist anymore, click on my link here: http://anointedforthefuture.blogspot.com/2012/08/proof-biblical-tongues-have-ceased.html
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Amen Jacqueline! I have worshipped in congregations (not as a member) who were open to tongues and witnessed this for myself. When I dabbled in it (prayer language), it brought confusion and turmoil and I am thankful God showed me, without allowing me to become trapped there. It is part of the end-times delusion, though it has been going on for years and yes, I researched it back to Parham, and the Azuza street revival in America. Thanks for your comment and I will probably link to your post on the subject in my main blogstream later today. God bless! (Note: My parenthetical clarifications have been added after reading some reader responses).
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Very well written words, good friend. I agree… I really do. However, I take a somewhat different path of understanding and communicating these difficult proclamations assigned by many to the Holy Spirit of God. Jonathan Edwards once said that no one can prove without doubt that the claims of others is not the Holy Spirit at work. He went on to say that we can be assured that where the Holy Spirit is at work, certain things will always happen. Those are the things we need to concentrate on. I quote, “The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
If all of these evidences are available, then we probably should restrain ourselves from limiting God from doing anything else. (He is God) Are these things real? I haven’t the foggiest. They’ve yet to happen in my life, but… while I still fail my Lord miserably, I believe His Holy Spirit shows Himself in my life and actions more and more every day.
Personally, I believe gifts like this ceased after the Apostles. I believe God gave them to the upstart church as signs and wonders to help give assurance during a time when persecution was great. However, one could make the argument that persecution is still great in many third world countries. For this reason, I cannot bring myself to denounce these as true believers. Fortunately, God doesn’t call me to determine who is and who isn’t of the faith… only to proclaim the gospel, to be a disciple and to make disciples. Those I share with, I try to present warnings much as you do here. Everything we need was given to us at the Cross! Praise the Lord!
Truth is, all you speak could very well be true… Satan loves nothing better than to confuse people in believing they are worshiping the One True God, while instead, they are simply worshiping an idol. But, the same could be said for me and many others… how often do we make Jesus into what we want Him to be? John 6 finds the masses wanting to make Jesus a king and a religious leader. But once they realize who the real Jesus is, they all abandon Him.
Wow! You really got me thinking and responding here, friend. Sorry for the extra long response. God bless.
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I agree that God is free to operate any way He pleases and that if these things still happen at all it would be under the circumstances you describe, such as tongues being spoken in a remote village that has not had the gospel translated into thier language, or healing in a remote area where no other means is available. I did point out that if “tongues” are spoken here, today, there are clear conditions laid out in the scripture, such as not all at once, (one at a time) and there has to be an interpretation and in known languages. The Bible directly also speaks against “vain babbling” or “vain repitition as the heathen do”. And sure enough you see the hindu folks babbling in their worship in the video. An interesting testimony I ran across today, from a lady who came out of those very practices within a major American denomination, can be found here: http://leavethechurch.me/2012/06/15/why-the-enemy-needs-tongues/ She speaks from personal experience, which is hard to refute! It’s an intriguing testimony and it, too, will make you think. Don’t worry about a long comment, I can’t say anything in under a hundred words myself. I am notorious for my long comments. Thanks for reading and comenting. I enjoy your blog as well. Blessings to you!
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Invariably someone wil try and circumvent the points made in this post by stating that they pray in their “prayer language” with “groans that cannot be uttered” as the scripture says, but in actuality, that scripture, Romans 8:26, says that the Sprit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Others will grasp onto I Corinthians 13:1 and say “see, we can speak with the tongues of angels, it says so right there”. My response to that is; yes, it refers to a “speaking with the tongues of angels” however, it does not define that. Therefore all you can conclude from the passage is that something called “tongues of angels” does exist, but please show me where in the scripture that there is a passage that defines it, tells us what it means, what it looks like, sounds like. It’s not there, therefore the crucial question to ask yourself is this: how do you know that what you are doing, is that which the scripture speaks of in 1 Corinthians 13:1? If you can’t prove it by scripture, then your argument is not valid because we are not to base our belief upon the experiential, and the Bible is not open to any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20). Also we should always be able to give an account of why we believe what we believe. (I Peter 3:15). Don’t take my word or anyone else’s. Go straight to the scriptures for yourself and study it out. Use E-sword software (free download online) and chase down the word tongues in the whole Bible or via an exhaustive concordance such as Thompsons. Because God expects you to “Study to show thyself approved, a workman that needeth not be ashamed” (II Tim. 2:15)
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