A Biblically based commentary on current issues that impact you
Richard Foster—Celebration of Deception
by Bob DeWaay
Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past.1 The article traced the beginning of the movement as follows: “The movement seems to have exploded in a 24-month period in 1977-1978, which saw the publication of Richard Foster’s bestselling Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth and Robert Webber’s Common Roots: A Call to Evangelical Maturity.”2
The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement: “From Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, and living practicing monks and nuns, they [those going back to Roman Catholic mysticism] must learn both the strengths and the limits of the historical ascetic disciplines.”3 So Foster was instrumental in starting a movement that is still growing 30-plus years later.
The irony about this particular CIC regarding Foster’s 1978 book is that in 1978 I myself was living in a Christian community committed to practicing much of what he promotes in Celebration of Discipline (even though we had not learned it from him directly). So I am not criticizing a practice about which I know nothing (or one in which I have no experience). I am criticizing a practice I foolishly allowed to deceive me for a significant portion of my early Christian life. When it comes to being deceived by mysticism, I have had abundant involvement. The only way I escaped it was through discovering and adopting the Reformation principle of sola scriptura.
In this article I will show that Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all—but a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception.
The Journey Inward
The Bible nowhere describes an inward journey to explore the realm of the spirit. God chose to reveal the truth about spiritual reality through His ordained, Spirit-inspired, biblical writers. What is spiritual and not revealed by God is of the occult and, therefore, forbidden. We have discussed this in many articles and have produced DVD seminars on the topic. But the concept of sola scriptura is totally lost on mystics such as Richard Foster. They, like the enthusiasts that Calvin and Luther warned against, believe they can gain valid and useful knowledge of spiritual things through direct, personal inspiration.
Foster describes the idea of the disciplines that are the topic of his book: “The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”4 So Foster has conceptually repudiated sola scriptura on page one to replace it with a journey inward to explore the realm of spirits. Something must have been seriously amiss in evangelicalism already in 1978 to render this book a bestseller! It ought to have been repudiated on the spot. In a footnote to that statement Foster writes, “In one form or another all of the devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines” (Foster: 1). The devotional “masters,” by the way, are mostly Roman Catholics who never were committed to the principle of sola scriptura. It is not surprising that they looked for spirituality through experimentation. But as an “inner light” Quaker, Foster never was committed to sola scriptura either.
Forgetting that the Bible forbids divination, Foster explains what he is after:
[W]e must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well. . . . They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. (Foster: 13)
Realizing that his readers would likely take this as an endorsement of Eastern religions, he makes a disclaimer that it is not Transcendental Meditation (TM) or something of that ilk: “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it” (Foster: 15). But what Foster wishes us to fill our minds with are personal revelations from the spirit realm that we naively are to think are the voice of God. This sort of meditation is not meditating on what God has said, but uses a technique to explore the spirit world. In other words, it is divination.
What we learn about the spirit realm either is revealed by God (once for all in Scripture) or gleaned by man-made techniques. That distinction is the difference between Christianity and paganism. Only Bible believers know what God has said about Himself and what He wishes to reveal about the unseen spirit world. Foster’s material continues to be popular because we live in an age where being spiritual pioneers on a journey into the unseen realm of the spirits is the essence of popular piety. It is the spirituality of secular talk shows.
To fully understand the degree of Foster’s deception, he even calls these techniques to the inner journey “means of grace”: “They [the Disciplines] are God’s means of grace” (Foster: 6). As with all who teach spiritual disciplines, there are no boundaries to these false “means.” For example, consider this recommended practice: “After you have gained some proficiency in centering down, add a five- to ten-minute meditation on some aspect of the creation. Choose something in the created order: tree, plant, bird, leaf, cloud, and each day ponder it carefully and prayerfully” (Foster 25). This after he had just taught breathing exercises (a means of “centering down”). Then he makes a startling claim: “We should not bypass this means of God’s grace” (Foster: 25). And there we have it: meditating of a leaf can be a means of grace!
Foster’s journey inward is to discover a spirit world that is available for any who search for it: “How then do we come to believe in a world of the spirit? Is it by blind faith? Not at all. The inner reality of the spiritual world is available to all who are willing to search for it” (Foster: 18). He claims that this spiritual search is analogous to scientific experimentation. Never mind that every pagan culture that has existed has believed in the “spiritual world.”
Spirituality of the Imagination
The Bible does not have anything good so say about the imagination. For example: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of the Lord'” (Jeremiah 23:16). A search of the KJV for “imagination” yields 14 verses, and in each case it is a bad thing. According to the Bible, the imagination is where people go when they do not want to listen to God.
However, for Foster the imagination is central: “The inner world of meditation is most easily entered through the door of the imagination. We fail today to appreciate its tremendous power. The imagination is stronger than conceptual thought and stronger than the will” (Foster: 22). Some of the authorities he cites on this point are C. G. Jung, Ignatius of Loyola, and Morton Kelsey. Jung is famous for his concept of the collective unconscious, and Kelsey was an Episcopal priest committed to Jungian principles. Kelsey wrote many books promoting mysticism. The advice Foster gleans from these teachers is that we must learn to think in images and take our dreams to be a possible doorway into the spirit world. Foster claims that dreams are something we already have and can help us develop the use of the imagination. He says, “Keeping a journal of our dreams is a way of taking them seriously” (Foster: 23).
There is, Foster warns, a danger to this process: “At the same time [that we ask for dreams to be God speaking to us], it is wise to pray a prayer of protection, since to open ourselves to spiritual influence can be dangerous as well as profitable” (Foster: 23). I would say that is asking God to protect us as we use various techniques to go where He does not want us to go (into the world of the spirits to gain information). The danger he warns of is far greater than Foster imagines. Those who take the journey inward will be deceived—every time! We are not equipped to gain spiritual information from that realm. That is why God speaks to us through His ordained mediators (the inspired Biblical writers); otherwise we would be fishing in the dark in a medium we are not suited for.
Foster teaches his readers to use their imaginations to experience Biblical stories with the five physical senses. Here is what he claims will happen:
As you enter the story, not as a passive observer but as an active participant, remember that since Jesus lives in the Eternal Now and is not bound by time, this event in the past is a living present-tense experience for Him. Hence, you can actually encounter the living Christ in the event, be addressed by His voice and be touched by His healing power. It can be more than an exercise of the imagination; it can be a genuine confrontation. Jesus Christ will actually come to you. (Foster: 26)
Showing that Foster’s ideas are still influential in our day, Greg Boyd cites some of Foster’s words here to support what he calls “cataphatic prayer” which uses the imagination and images as a means to contact God and gain spiritual information.5 Those who endorse this practice assume they are not being deceived by spirits, but I cannot see on what grounds.
Foster prescribes a practice using one’s imagination that mimics astral projection to the degree that he actually includes a footnote disclaimer stating that it is not astral projection (Foster 28). It begins by telling his readers to imagine themselves going out into nature into a beautiful place (Boyd describes how he practices this, as well as its results6). After enjoying the sights and smells (in your imagination) these are the next steps:
In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily. Imagine your spiritual self, alive and vibrant, rising up through the clouds and into the stratosphere. . . Go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence. Listen quietly, anticipating the unanticipated. Note carefully any instruction given. With time and experience you will be able to distinguish readily between mere human thought that may bubble up to the conscious mind and the True Spirit which inwardly moves upon the heart. (Foster: 27, 28)
I must ask how one knows whether “True Spirit” is not a deceiving one? Mysticism’s fatal flaw is that it naively assumes that Christians having subjective religious experiences must therefore be having Christian experiences that are truly from God—even if the experiences were provoked through unbiblical practices similar to those used by pagans.
Mental Alchemy
Foster’s approach to prayer is laced with mysticism as well. He claims that prayer needs to be learned from people who have the right experiences and are “masters” who know what they are doing. Foster does not teach ordinary prayer, whereby we bring our needs and requests to the Lord and know that He hears us (because He promised that He does). Here is why he thinks such prayer fails:
Often people will pray and pray with all the faith in the world, but nothing happens. Naturally, they were not contacting the channel. We begin praying for others by first centering down and listening to the quiet thunder of the Lord of hosts. Attuning ourselves to divine breathings is spiritual work, but without it our praying is vain repetition (Mt. 6:7). Listening to the Lord is the first thing, the second thing, and the third thing necessary for successful intercession. (Foster: 34)
Of course this means we have to become mystics if we want to pray.
He teaches that we first must hear personal revelations from God, using meditation techniques such as he teaches, before we pray. He says: “The beginning point, then, in learning to pray for others is to listen for guidance . . . This inner “yes” is the divine authorization for you to pray for the person or situation” (Foster: 35). No! Foster is wrong! The only authorization we need to pray is the Biblical command to pray—not personal revelations.
For Foster, meditation (mystical style) is necessary but not sufficient. He also brings the imagination into the process: “As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer” (Foster: 36). He credits Agnes Sanford7 for helping him see the value of using the imagination in praying. Foster writes, “Imagination opens the door to faith. If we can ‘see’ in our mind’s eye a shattered marriage whole or a sick person well, it is only a short step to believing it will be so” (Foster: 36). Sanford got her ideas from Theosophy, New Thought, Jung, and Emmet Fox. These ideas, echoed by Foster, come from the unbiblical “mind over matter” thinking of that era. That kind of thinking uses creative visualization to change reality or channel spiritual power. Foster suggests, “Imagine the light of Christ flowing through your hands and healing every emotional trauma and hurt feeling your child experienced that day” (Foster: 39).
In his 1985 book, The Seduction of Christianity, Dave Hunt labeled creative visualization such as what Foster promotes, “mental alchemy.”8 Hunt warned the church that Foster promoted such mental alchemy in Celebration of Discipline, and as we have shown, he, in fact, does. So how is it that 24 years after Hunt’s warning Foster is more popular than ever with Evangelicals? The answer is end times deception. Now, a huge movement that claims to be a reformation promoting Foster, Willard and their versions of mysticism does exist (i.e., The Emergent Church). Things have gotten so very much worse.
Spiritual Directors
Once mysticism and the supposed need to gain personal revelations from God are embraced, there arises a need for new “masters” who are better at navigating the spirit world. Pagan societies have always had such persons. They are called “shamans.” Eastern religion calls them “gurus.” Deceived Christians call them “spiritual directors.” Foster explains, “In the Middle Ages not even the greatest saints attempted the depths of the inward journey without the help of a spiritual director” (Foster: 159). The problem, according to Foster, is that the churches (in 1978) lacked “living masters”:
No doubt part of the surge of interest in Eastern meditation is because the churches have abrogated the field. How depressing for a university student, seeking to know the Christian teaching on meditation, to discover that there are so few living masters of contemplative prayer and that nearly all of the serious writings on the subject are seven or more centuries old. No wonder he or she turns to Zen, Yoga, or TM. (Foster: 14)
Foster’s dream has come true. Today people can even practice Yoga in a Christian church. We have Christian TM; it is called contemplative prayer. Yes, Eastern religion has come right into the church, and Foster has helped usher it in.
But what about “living masters” or spiritual directors? In 1972 Morton Kelsey lamented their lack: “Indeed I would suggest that everyone who is serious about relating to the spiritual realm find himself a spiritual director, if there were more men trained and experienced in this way.”9 That “problem” has been solved in a huge way. Evangelical theology schools are now offering masters degrees in “spiritual formation” in order to equip people to be “spiritual directors.” Here is what Biola University says about its program: “This degree is designed to equip men and women for the ministry of spiritual direction, discipleship, formation and soul care in the local church and for further academic training in spiritual formation.”10 Spiritual Directors International will help you find a spiritual director regardless of your religion.11 Richard Foster’s own Renovare, which purports to “encourage renewal in the Christian church,” has a list of spiritual direction programs.12
Foster explains the purpose of the spiritual director: “He is the means of God to open the path to the inward teaching of the Holy Spirit” (Foster: 160). Apparently, in a full-blown rejection of sola scriptura where the Holy Spirit’s teaching is mediated to the church through the Biblical writers only, we need mediators for personal revelations beyond scripture.
Foster explains how spiritual directors lead: “He leads only by the force of his own personal holiness” (Foster: 160). In Roman Catholicism the Pope is called “his holiness” and in Tibetan Buddhism the Dalai Lama is called “his holiness” but now evangelicals are developing a class of people who evidently deserve the title. How exactly are we to judge when someone has gained “personal holiness” sufficient to be a spiritual director and mediate spirituality to others? Foster says, “Though the director has obviously advanced further into the inner depths, the two [master and disciple] are together learning and growing in the realm of the Spirit” (Foster: 160). Foster cites Roman Catholic mystic Thomas Merton about how this works: “The spiritual director was something of a ‘spiritual father who begot the perfect life in the soul of his disciple by his instructions first of all, but also by his prayer, his sanctity and his example. He was . . . a kind of ‘sacrament’ of the Lord’s presence in the ecclesiastical community” (Foster: 161).
End Times Delusion
When it comes to end times deception, Foster is on the cutting edge of embracing it. Consider what he wrote: “In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people. . . . Individuals can be found here and there whose hearts burn with divine fire” (Foster: 150). Such inclinations have led to massive deception. They smack of the Latter Rain deception, now embodied in such false teachers as Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle. They are elitist. They are in line with the beliefs of the Emergent Church as well. He also says: “Our century has yet to see the breaking forth of the apostolic church of the Spirit” (Foster: 150). Now we have the New Apostolic Reformation claiming to be just that. Foster’s ideas now embody the massive apostasy and end times deception that characterize our age.
Foster’s teachings have taken the church as far away from the Reformation principle of sola scriptura as the Roman Catholic Church ever was. The only thing left is for them to bring us all the way back to Rome. Christianity Today praises Foster for pointing us in that direction.
In early 2008 I wrote a CIC article about how abandoning the principle of sola scriptura would lead evangelicals back to Rome.13 It was partly a response to the CT article praising mysticism. The response I received was rather unexpected. I was contacted by former evangelicals who had rejected sola scriptura and had gone back to Rome! They wanted to debate me about sola scriptura. Sadly, my point was proven. As a response to their misguided challenge our church hosted a seminar on sola scriptura, called Faith at Risk 4.14 In the seminar Gary Gilley and I defended the scriptures as the sole authority for the church.
The aforementioned CT article discusses a new monasticism, former evangelical leaders converting to Roman Catholicism, and mystical practices like lectio divina—and they call all of it a good and hopeful thing. Chris Armstrong, the author of the article, concluded, “That they [evangelicals] are receiving good guidance on this road from wise teachers [Foster and Willard] is reason to believe that Christ is guiding the process. And that they are meeting and learning from fellow Christians in the other two great confessions, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox, is reason to rejoice in the power of love.”15
Who is left to defend the principles of the Reformation? One would think Reformed theologians are, but they aren’t doing their job. In the last CIC article we mentioned Reformed theologian Donald Whitney who wrote: “Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline has been the most popular book on the subject of the Spiritual Disciplines in the last half of the twentieth century. The great contribution of this work is the reminder that the Spiritual Disciplines, which many see as restrictive and binding, are actually means to spiritual freedom.”16 That from a teacher in a Reformed seminary?
If a book that teaches Christian TM, Christian astral projection and mental alchemy by means of the imagination is a “great contribution,” then something is seriously wrong here. The delusion is so widespread that I see no other explanation for it than the end time deception predicted by Paul: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” (1Timothy 4:1). Another passage warns: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2Timothy 4:3, 4).
That time now is here. We are accountable to God for what we believe and practice. Those who wish to persevere in the faith in this age of delusion must base their beliefs and practices only on the truths found in Scripture. Foster’s journey into the world of the spirits will deceive all who enter it.
Issue 112 – May / June 2009
End Notes
-
- Chris Armstrong, “The Future lies in the Past” in Christianity Today, February 2008.
- Ibid. 24.
- Ibid. 29.
- Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (New York: Harper & Row, 1978) 1. All subsequent citations from this book will be bracketed within the text in this fashion: (Foster: 1).
- Greg Boyd, Seeing is Believing, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004). Boyd cites Foster to prove that the Lord will actually come to us through our use of “imaginative meditation.” I deal with this issue more fully in CIC issue 83 July/August, 2003: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE83.HTM
- Ibid. 111-125.
- I write about Sanford’s inner healing theories in CIC Issue 96: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE96.HTM
- Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity (Eugene: Harvest House, 1985) 138.
- Morton Kelsey, Encounter With God, (Bethany Fellowship: Minneapolis, 1972) 179.
- http://www.biola.edu/spiritualformation/programs/ SEE PDF
- HTTP://WWW.SDIWORLD.ORG
- HTTP://WWW.RENOVARE.ORG/JOURNEY_TRAINING_DIRECTION.HTM
- CIC Issue 105; March/April 2008: HTTP://CICMINISTRY.ORG/COMMENTARY/ISSUE105.HTM
- Watch this seminar HERE
- Armstrong, Future
- DONALD S. WHITNEY, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (COLORADO SPRINGS: NAVPRESS, 1991) 23.
Biblical Deliverance Prescription-Wholeness in Christ [podcast]
Articles
Conspiracy Among the False Prophets [podcast]
The Prophesied End Times Conspiracy of False Leaders [podcast]
Audio PlayerBirds of a Feather Truly Do Flock Together
“For MANY deceivers are entered into the world . . .” 2 John 7
So many today tell you exactly who they are when they quote absolute frauds like John Calvin, Mother Teresa, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Rick Warren, James R. White, Todd White, etc. The list is endless of false prophets who are still heralded by heretical pawns who are part of the “conspiracy” of false prophets who are against the LORD (Ezekiel 22:25-27).
Stop endorsing and quoting and esteeming mere sinful men, now! Obey God by exposing them! (Matthew 10:26-28; 23; Romans 16:17-18; Jude 3, etc.).
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” Isaiah 2:22
“Seems so many miss the little things by not investigating for themselves. I wish they would just stick to the Bible and give honour where God hath given honour: like unto Paul, Timothy, Epaphras, John, Peter, etc. There are plenty of examples to us in the written Word without having to laud men that we truly know very little of or were written of by secular historians.” Jon Crane
The Word of God has very much to say about discernment, and one of those cardinal truths is found in Ezekiel 22:25-27 which speaks of how birds of a feather DO flock together and so that’s one way we know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16, 20). When you see someone hanging with, colluding with a known false prophet, you know that they’re both wolves. Also we should become very familiar with 2 John 10-11. Example: The history of the roman church is to infiltrate, to send their trojan horse wolves in our midst, acting like Christians while coming to subvert. The jesuits infiltrated the protestant seminaries beginning in the 1950’s and that’s when the prophesied final great departure from the truth began (1 Timothy 4:1-2, etc.). So, when you see a preacher who isn’t exposing this antichrist cult but rather colluding with them, you know he’s antichrist. Examples of such include Billy Graham, Paul Washer, James Robison, Jonathan Roumie, Sean Feucht, etc. See Catholicism/Ecumenism category.
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Revelation 12:12
Beware of the bombardment, the constant delusions of the enemy, who “is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12) For example: The Jesus Revolution Movie, the fake revivals such as Asbury, etc. There is a culminating “conspiracy”, a concerted effort by Satan and his human agents, to deceive the elect, wolves in sheeps’ clothing among us! Beware saints.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22
Over reaction on the Bible topic of false leaders? If you can find the phrase “many true prophets” in God’s Word, show it to us. Hint: It’s not there. Yet, we are repeatedly warned of “many false prophets” who would “deceive many” and how in these last days “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (Matthew 24:11; 1 John 4:1; 2 Timothy 3:13)
“Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.” Jeremiah 12:10
WHO DID GOD TELL US IS MISLEADING HIS PEOPLE?
“For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Isaiah 9:16
Is false leadership, those who mislead, not the greatest threat to the body of Christ? Yes!
There is obviously little threat from external Satanists and yet those who serve the enemy within the body of Christ are strategic plants, positioned to infect those who surround them. Yet, the Holy Spirit who is the Author of the Word of God, spends volumes of time utilizing many words to warn us of the impending and guaranteed danger of these wolves who prey upon the sheep of the LORD using various messages, methods and manipulation. These “deceitful workers” work most effectively within, not without (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). They are at work in our midst–strategically, internally planted. There is a conspiracy of false prophets and false teachers united by the spirit of antichrist and purposed to malign, ever so subtly, the image of the one true God.
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things …” Ezekiel 22:25
Where are the “prophets” who conspire? They are strategically positioned “in the midst” of the saints of the LORD. They steal the “treasure and precious things” of the LORD by robbing His sheep of His clear and full-counsel truth which bears the abundance of His spiritual blessings in heavenly places through Jesus Christ.
According to the Holy Scriptures, false prophets are known by their affiliations. See Ezekiel 22:25-27.
According to 2 John 10-11 we will be judged with evil doers if we condone, support them in any way. Also, a major truth of discerning is found in Ezekiel 22:25-27.
Packs of wolves adorned behind the sheep’s clothing of their denomination, church building, affiliation, degree and charisma, operate in the modern church, leading people to the knowledge of a false Christ.
The antichrist spirit opposes Christ under the pretense of representing Him and leading His Church.
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.” Ezekiel 22:25-28
Note the classes of leadership listed here–prophets, priests, princes, and prophets. There were many levels of leadership involved and operating in a conspiracy against the LORD. Where are the conspiratorial false “prophets”?–“in the midst” of God’s people. What are the false prophets doing in the midst of God’s people and what have they done?
Ezekiel 22 Outline
- “ravening the prey (they see God’s people as an opportunity for self gain)” (v25)
- “have devoured souls (do not flinch to deceive and destroy precious souls)” (v25)
- “they have taken the treasure and precious things (stolen the spiritual blessing of His glorious salvation)” (v25)
- “they have made her many widows in the midst thereof (caused spiritual death)” (v25)
- “Her priests have violated my law (do not hold to and preach God’s pure Word, but rather use their position to profit themselves)” (v26)
- “have profaned mine holy thing (made common that which is holy)” (v26)
- “they have put no difference between the holy and profane (mixture)” (v26)
- “neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean (did not teach His people to discern)” (v26)
- “have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths (did not set the LORD and His rest apart as holy)” (v26)
- “I am profaned among them” (v26)
- “Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey” (v27)
- “shed blood, and to destroy souls” (v27)
- “get dishonest gain (made merchandise of the people)” (v27)
- “her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar (built their organizations in a way not prescribed in the Word)” (v28)
- “seeing vanity” (v28)
- “divining lies (conjuring up “words” that are not from God)” (v28)
- “saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken (using His holy name in vain for their own selfish gain)” (v28)
This enumeration of the characteristics and operating tactics of false leaders is no different today than what it was in Ezekiel’s day.
JIHAD IN THE MODERN CHURCH
There is a war raging in the church world today. It is the war for truth, which is opposed by the liars and lies of the enemy of all of God’s people, who makes war against the saints (Daniel 7:21). The enemy is greatly assisted in his cause, by those fruitless leaders who refuse to openly and continually dispense divine truth. This war goes unnoticed by most but will determine the future of the souls of countless men.
The LORD instructs all of His people, especially those in leadership, to discern and detect such lies and to “Speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.” (Titus 2:1)
The evil silence of so many in leadership who do not know nor “preach the word” is contemptible, despicable, shameful, offensive and insidious (2 Timothy 4:2). There is no doubt that these in leadership in today’s church, who do not teach the pure Word of God, are the most powerful emissaries of the evil one. If God’s people know His Word, the will not be destroyed for lack of knowledge (Psalms 17:4; Hosea 4:6).
Jihad means holy war. Those who wage such a war in the Islamic world, do so stealthily. The enemies of God, who stealthily prey upon the weak, beginning with their father the devil, are for the most part, cowardly. Do we have a well-hidden war being waged in our churches–being clandestinely waged by our very leaders? Have we not been warned that many deceivers have “crept in unawares (undetected)” who “lie in wait to deceive”? (Jude 4; Ephesians 4:14)
The Islamic terrorists seek to come within our cities and drop their undetected “dirty bombs” and kill millions of Americans. Much worse are those spiritual terrorists who hold leadership positions and yet do not “feed the church of God” and by denial are dropping their dirty bombs of error in word and lifestyle. They refuse to protect God’s people by filling them with His truth (Proverbs 30:5; Acts 20:32). These who serve themselves of the ministry are in denial and do not give protection to the people of God like true shepherds do.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (Gr. suppress) the truth in unrighteousness.” Romans 1:18
If our government did nothing to protect us from the physical terrorism the Islamic Jihadists who seek to inflict death and destruction on our nation, what would we say? We would be outraged, right? Doesn’t the physical threat of terrorism Muslims seek to bring on America, pale in comparison to the dangerous and deadly spiritual terrorism of false prophets and their potential to damn the very souls of men? Is not the future health of the Christian and Church being placed at stake by the refusal of leaders to diligently dispense the doctrinal truths the LORD gave us in His Word? If so, then why are we not completely outraged at such gross lack of warning or protection from our leaders, concerning the spiritual terrorism the enemy of all souls is bringing into the midst of our camps, and the gross lack of Bible teaching?
Perhaps we would fair well to place this following Bible promise on our refrigerators in order to keep us aware of the reality of such deception:
“For this I know (definitive), that after my departing SHALL (a Bible promise) grievous wolves enter in AMONG YOU, not sparing the flock.” Acts 20:29
Seeking to push from view the reality of deceivers and deception is a dangerous undertaking at best and a brazen betrayal of God and our fellow man. The fact of false prophets is a reality, especially as concerns these final days. Trying to hide this fact may just prove that we are a part of the conspiracy against the LORD and His children (Ezekiel 22:25-27).
There is a mountain of Bible passages dedicated to warning us to discern false prophets and false teachings. Like any good parent, our heavenly Father wants His beloved children to be “safe” and like Paul so do all true servant leaders (Philippians 3:1). To ignore what He told us about deceivers and false teaching is to indict the Almighty as being uncaring, un-thoughtful, and a bad parent. One must openly reject hundreds of verses to ignore the dangerous threat imposed by “grievous wolves.” (Acts 20:29) The threat posed by these wolves is severe. Eternal souls are in the balance.
It is highly regrettable far too little is said or addressed of this important biblical subject which has left God’s people at a place of great vulnerability (1 John 4:1). According to Ezekiel 44:23 and Colossians 1:28, true servants of Jesus are to “teach” His people to discern “the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.”
In this late hour “evil men and seducers” of souls are waxing “worse and worse” and the LORD must have His obedient watchmen to teach, to warn, and to preach (Colossians 1:28; 2 Timothy 3:13).
All watchmen and disciples of Jesus are to diligently and without ceasing bring His people into remembrance of His Word and the many warnings therein (1 Timothy 4:6, 16). This is what the “good minister of Jesus Christ” does as well as nourishing them “up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.” (1 Timothy 4:6, 16)
THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROTECTS HIS SHEEP
The man who isn’t warning isn’t loving and isn’t protecting Christ’s sheep. Run from such a devil for he is part of the antichrist “conspiracy” against Christ! (Ezekiel 22:25-27) Such a man is completely unlike Christ and His prophets and apostles who repeatedly warned of false prophets and their heresies!
Jesus Christ is “the great shepherd of the sheep” and “Jesus Christ (is) the same yesterday, and today, and forever”, then is He not still deeply concerned about the protection of His people today? (Hebrews 13:8, 20)
Please realize that the LORD holds each of us responsible to take heed to what we hear and to keep our own hearts with all diligence and stay pure from all deceivers and deceptions (Deuteronomy 4:9; Proverbs 4:20-23; Luke 21:34-36; 2 Timothy 2:15, etc.).
“Keep thyself pure.” 1 Timothy 5:22
Beloved, in light of your own personal responsibility to walk and remain in the truth, let me encourage you to avoid holding your breath till you find a true under-shepherd who will do his duty by watching, overseeing, “declar(ing) unto you all the counsel of God”, and “feed(ing) the church of God.” (Acts 20:28-32) Consider prayerfully and perpetually getting into God’s Word for yourself. Devour it and let your heart be taught in His perfect ways by his Spirit.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please forgive me for ever helping, for bidding God speed in any way to a wolf that is Your enemy. I now this moment repent and desire never to commit this sin again. Please unite my heart to fear Thy holy name LORD Jesus! Teach me to discern and to cling to You according to the lamp of Your precious Precepts! In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Apostasy
Biblical Case Against Naivety
Ignorance and Gullibility are a Curse
“The simple (silly, seducible, foolish) believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” Proverbs 14:15
Are you silly or savvy? Concerning the most important Book in the world, are you ignorant or intelligent?
ALL who remain too lazy to diligently study God’s Word for themselves prove they do not love Christ or truth and will be sent “strong delusion” and “damned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)
“Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge”
In the days of Hosea the prophet and today, there are many who claiming to know the LORD and yet are void of the knowledge of His Word – and it’s because they have “rejected knowledge” due to not knowing and loving the LORD truly. If they loved God, they’d be pouring over His words prayerfully, daily (Psalm 1:1-3).
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:6
Any person who is not in God’s Word daily clearly demonstrates that they do not know nor want Him in their life.
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
Are you silly, seducible, and foolish?
Those who are not being grounded in God’s Word by diligent and daily study of the Bible, are easily misled and will ultimately be damned for not loving God and His Word supremely. Is Jesus Christ truly your “first love” today?
“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:4-5
— Untold “Christians” can be seen and heard talking about their studying of church history and its players. They have been sold on this false idea that in order to know the LORD and grow in Christ, they must study what mere sinful men wrote and spoke during the last 2,000 years of church history. But is this true? What happened to God’s very Word, the Bible? You see, the devil himself, through seminary beguilers, has sold so many down the river. They have incapacitated and removed many from drinking from the pure river of living water which is God’s pure Word. So many look to mere man and cling to their heroes of the faith who they want to emulate and these men are not even in the Bible. They listen to their pastors and supposed scholars because they have a degree of mere men. These devils have made studying “church history” important. So it is conveyed that Christians needs to spend endless hours reading, studying, learning who taught what and who was right and who was wrong about this and that doctrine…… whew, getting worn out thinking about this. Yet, God’s Word sits largely unread, unstudied, unlearned, unmemorized! God forgive us for being so very gullible and idolatrous! The LORD have mercy on us for alienating the affections of our hearts away from Him and onto mere sinful men (Isaiah 2:22). Those who are looking to the LORD look to His precepts and nothing else. They declare with the LORD’s apostle Paul: “Let God be true and every man a liar.” (Romans 3:4) God’s Word is final authority to all Heaven-bound followers of Jesus Christ. All others are in rebellion, deceived, and will be sent a “strong delusion … that they might all be damned.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12) Beloved, have you been led to believe that you must study Greek, Hebrew, Church history, etc., by those who haven’t bothered to mention much less inspired you to get directly into God’s Word for yourself? If so you have been beguiled and should flee any and every such deceiver.
“CEASE ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils.” Isaiah 2:22
If you have a Bible, God’s Word, what are you going to say on that Day? What will you say before the throne of the Almighty as to what you did or did not do with His Word?
Now that He has found and saved us, we are to study Him directly from His Word where He is revealed:
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Colossians 2:6-10
—– ALL vain imaginations must be circumcised from our thinking. In other words, all images (root word for imaginations) must be ridden from your thinking which do not come straight from the whole counsel of God’s written Word which is His final authority. Many walk in a vain show, with great spiritual pretension, acting the part of a prideful fool as they suppose to have superior knowledge of God and other things when they don’t even know Scripture. They are ungrounded, unlearned, biblically illiterate, and therefore ignorant of God, His creation, the enemy of all souls, sinful man, and the world. They learned a couple of Bible stories as a child and therefore vainly hold an inflated view of their shallow crumbs. …..Do you take this as an insult? Well then maybe the LORD you claim to be serving will today become important enough to you to learn His Word and to cease acting as if you know anything at all when you don’t even know His Word. Perhaps He is sending to your heart a rebuke, in order to get you to truly repent. When you do, He truly will be first place in your life. Your days will begin with, be filled with, and end with Him (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
1 John 4:1
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
These are good verses to place on an index card and memorize. So many today have bought in to the spiritually dumb syndrome where they are afraid, with evil fear, to question, investigate, or discern doctrines and the fruit of people who are in leadership.
Excuse me, but didn’t JESUS instruct us to be fruit inspectors (not with an evil heart though)?
“Ye shall know (Greek – discern) them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know (Greek – discern) them.” Matthew 7:16-20
Friend, why would the Son of God tell us that we would “know – discern” people by their “fruits” if He didn’t intend for us to do so???
Of course, what the LORD wants me to do is to first place my own heart, motives and life to the acid test of the Holy Scriptures, then I will see clearly to help others (who have needs) to be restored to their rightful relationship with God and to avoid deceivers who were promised to be in our midst (1 Cor. 11:31-32; Gal. 6:1-2; Matt. 7:1-6; Acts 20:27-32; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; Col. 2:8…).
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Abiding
“Cry Aloud, Spare Not, Lift Up Thy Voice Like a Trumpet” [podcast]
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isaiah 58:1
4 Commands here:
1. Cry aloud
2. Spare not
3. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet
4. Show my people their transgressions
Like today’s false leaders, in Isaiah’s day the priesthood of false prophets were backslidden by choice and therefore unable to offer even a faint bark to warn God’s people of coming judgment.
“His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” Isaiah 56:10-12
Today’s “pastors” are never heard calling men to repentance! This alone reveals they are totally false! Satan’s seminaries and fake news “bibles” have removed this essential command and word to “repent.”
Paul did 3 things to prepare Christ’s body to meet the LORD: PWT = Preach, WARN, Teach (Colossians 1:28). Any leader not warning against false teachers and false doctrine is 100% a false leader himself and part of the “conspiracy” of false prophets who oppose the LORD and will burn forever in the fires of hell. See Ezekiel 22:25-27.
The LORD never called anyone to produce a movie for people to know His……
Today we have a never-ending string of staged “revivals” coming at us. If sin, repentance, hell, and holiness aren’t being preached, what are they actually being won to? God has not and never will changed (Malachi 3:6). The Bible foretells a great falling away, not a revival (2 Thessalonians 2). And, especially with one where the leadership is promoting the abomination of sodomy openly (Leviticus 18:22)…. Dare we take the name of the LORD our God in vain and attach it to this abomination? I refuse personally.
The Bible is full of warnings from Genesis to Revelation. If you have a problem with warnings, you have a problem with God. Warning is for protection. If you don’t like warnings, you simply give away your Bible to someone who is an authentic, honest a truth seeker.
Give the devil no rest saints! Expose his agents! Ephesians 5:11
Christ’s apostle Paul warned God’s people day and night for 3 years with tears – in order to protect them from vile wolves operating within the professing body of Christ (Acts 20:27:32). What does that reveal about the devils we call pastors today who refuse to ever warn? -They are Satan’s agents (2 Corinthians 11:12-15).
WARNING IS WHAT JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES DID AND IS FOR YOUR PROTECTION. Yet if you refuse to yield to the LORD’s warnings via His Word and saints, you are walking right into destruction.
You want to see who the false preachers are among us? Here you go!
The man who isn’t warning isn’t loving and isn’t protecting Christ’s sheep. Run from such a devil for he is part of the antichrist “conspiracy” against Christ! (Ezekiel 22:25-27) Such a man is completely unlike Christ and His prophets and apostles who repeatedly warned of false prophets and their heresies!
Table-Flipping Savior! You going to call the Son of God unloving? Repent devil. Telling the truth to religious counterfeits, sin-darkened hearts, is as loving, as Christ-like as it could possibly be. Matthew 23 anyone?
ARE YOU preaching the absolute Gospel essential of repentance beloved of God? Jesus commanded that we do just that.
IF he’s not preaching repentance and remission of sins he’s a fraud! No excuse! “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:47)
“Preaching repentance for the remission of sin to the entire world is the last thing the Lord Jesus Christ commanded before He ascended into heaven.” Brian Craig
WHEN a man repents, all his sins are remitted! Removed!
False leaders today CODDLE men in sin instead of CALLING them out of it – so that they can be spared eternal judgment/damnation! Comforting people in their sin is the work of wolves (Jeremiah 23:17; Lamentation 2:14).
Was the message of the original Gospel always soft? Did Jesus and His holy apostles pander to the sinful sentiments and whims of sinful men? No! Read God’s Word for yourself as He commanded you to do – and cease now to be misled by the soft-peddling pansies of today’s apostate modern church world! Repent now. Follow Jesus! Then you won’t live by your sinful emotions but will rather be an authentic disciple of Jesus who loves His truth – NO MATTER WHO IT OFFENDS. But first it must offend YOU unto repentance – to drive you to real repentance and a real, a crucified walk with Jesus (Galatians 2:20). “Let God be true and EVERY man a liar.” (Romans 3:4) “You preach this Gospel JUST LIKE it’s written young man, you understand me!” | YOU Preach this Gospel Just Like it’s Written Son!
THOSE who don’t warn do not have God’s love and are suspect as hiding something! Jesus and His apostles WARNED.
WHOSE blood do you have on your hands for not warning them?
“So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” Ezekiel 33:7
The reason many condone the evil wolves posing as Christ’s ministers is that they do not know Jesus but are rather self-serving devils, full of self, refusing to repent for real.
True ministers of Christ, without fail, call men to Christ and out of sin – They call men to repent! (Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 18:30; 2 Corinthians 5:11, etc.)
THERE is nothing good in us except Christ. We are not featured but JESUS. “We preach CHRIST crucified.” (1 Corinthians 1:23) Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and HE is the one and only righteous Redeemer whom we share (Isaiah 64:6; 1 Corinthians 9:16; Romans 7:18, etc).
Jesus’ true disciples are crucified vessels who preach with His authority, unlike the lame leaders we have today (Matthew 7:28-29). True Gospel preaching rocks the world of those who hear it – it never coddles people in their sin. That’s the work of wolves! Beware!
Most in “ministry” today are building their own empire, not Christ’s kingdom! Beware. Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 1:29-2:5; 2 Corinthians 4:5; Philippians 3:18-19
GOD bless the truly God-fearing men who warn the flock of God as did Jesus and His apostles – in order to protect them. Moral coward counterfeits only warn when they are warning someone not to warn. Pitiful Pansies!
When Jesus preached the counterfeit religionists were made livid and scattered at the rebuke of His truth, spoken in divine authority (Matthew 7:28-29). Are you scattering the tares in your audience or are you coddling these rebels in their sin?
The Missing “R” in the Modern Gospel
Is it any wonder we seldom hear the word, the divine command to “repent” in the modern church world? These modern pansies we call pastors are blind guides who use new “bible” versions which are all corrupt. Here’s a sampling:
The NKJV removes “repent” 44 times
Matthew 9:13
KING JAMES BIBLE – “for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners TO REPENTANCE.” Matthew 9:13
NASB – “For I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” …“TO REPENTANCE” Removed!
NIV – “For I have not come to call the righeous but sinners.” …“TO REPENTANCE” Removed!
THE MESSAGE – “I’m after mercy, not religion. I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.” …“TO REPENTANCE” Removed!
IF your preaching doesn’t include the divine command to REPENT, you are preaching another gospel – and are “accused.” (Galatians 1:6-9) Repent now! Oh and ditch the sissy “bible” (all new versions) which removed this essential command. Get a real Bible – King James Bible. More on Bible Versions Here.
Think about that and how few today are doing such! Wow! Any man not preaching that ALL men everywhere must repent, is an “accursed” false teacher! (galatians 1:6-9)
IS IT any wonder repentance is seldom heard? WHEN you realize that the “pastors” we have in the pulpits today are vatican trained by jesuit infiltrated seminaries which falsely promote the catholic “bibles” these pastors now read and get their message from. And, the people they preach to are reading those vatican “bibles” and so don’t know repentance is an essential, vital biblical doctrine. They have no excuse! King James Bible readers are much sharper, more astute Bible students due to reading the real, preserved Word of our God (Psalms 12:6-7).
John the Baptist Preached Repentance!
“And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2
Jesus Preached Repentance!
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17
Christ’s Apostle Peter Preached Repentance!
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19
The Apostle Paul Preached Repentance!
“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” Acts 17:30
Repentance is not only essential initially but also on an ongoing basis.
Notice below as Paul writes to the Corinthian believers how he is concerned only about those among them who had not repented. The ones who had already repented were safe. This is a key kingdom truth saints. Let’s face it, we all have need to repent and confess sin on a regular basis, right? (1 John 1:6-2:2, etc.). Now watch this closely: Those who haven’t repented are the ones Paul’s concerned about-not the ones who’ve repented.
“And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and HAVE NOT REPENTED of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.” 2 Corinthians 12:21
When there is no repentance, there is impending doom/wrath. When there is repentance, there is a complete clearing, refreshing, a removal of all sin to infinity!
“He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west (infinity), so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalms 103:10-12
“If thou, Lord , shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Psalms 130:3
When we repent, God refreshes!
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19
The reason we see so many frustrated people who’ve been saved is in this verse above! Read it again and meditate on this beloved.
The fires of eternal damnation will forever feed upon the hopeless, helpless rebels who refuse to repent and “Bring forth therefore fruits meet (fitting) for repentance.” (Matthew 3:8) Any man who does not have the fruit of sound doctrine – PURE BIBLE – has not repented and is in ministry for some other reason than Christ’s glory! Run for your life!
“They say still unto them that despise me (those who live in sin), The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace (promise rebels eternal security); and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18 For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?” Jeremiah 23:17-18
If you see a man who refuses to preach what the Bible says about sin and to preach the absolute necessity to repent, you are witnessing a wolf!
These are those Ezekiel shows us are part of the “conspiracy” of false leaders who are misrepresenting Christ by preaching another, any other message than the unchanging original Gospel and all of it’s doctrinal components!
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets (false leaders) in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.” Ezekiel 22:25-27
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