(229) Justin Peters: Exposing the False Doctrines of Word of Faith (Part 2)

okay well I want to spend just about 15-20 minutes or so hitting a couple of things I think are very very important and then we will go into Q&A question and answer and I'll do my best to answer those for you I wish I had more time are there so so much I want to say so so much I want to teach but unfortunately time does not permit that but I want to I want to begin with a little quiz which theological group does the following I'm going to give you a list of behaviors and you tell me which theological group is known for these things erratic jerking and shaking uncontrollable laughter being slain in the spirit you know when somebody comes up and touches you on the forehead and you fall backwards they prophesy they have physical healings and they speak in tongues which group do you automatically think of charismatic in a costume right Hindus Hindus does that surprise you you can look at video clips of people practicing what is known as Hindu Kundalini and they people in Hindu Kundalini exhibit the exact same behaviors as charismatic s' the exact same behaviors you cannot tell the difference you can take video clips of Kundalini put them side-by-side video clips of charismatic sand you literally cannot tell the difference they are absolutely indistinguishable they do the exact same things that charismatic do and they do them just as convincingly they speak in tongues just like charismatic stew so what does this tell us it tells us that just because someone does one or more of these things that is not necessarily an indication that God is the source of that ability just because someone is speaking in tongues doesn't mean that that ability is coming from God because Hindus do it too some Mormons do it even some Muslims if you can believe it speak in tongues so we cannot dear ones we cannot interpret the Bible by what we experience no matter how real an experience may seem to us if that experience does not plumb with the Word of God if it does not fall within biblical parameters then we must reject it the Apostle Paul says in first Corinthians chapter four verse 6 he says he says he warns his readers do not exceed what is written do not exceed what is written in other words do not exceed biblical parameters because when we exceed biblical parameters you know what we are doing we are opening ourselves up to demonic influence and demonic suggestion and that is very real that is very real and so that's why we have biblical parameters that's why we have biblical parameters for example for the gift of tongues there are strict biblical parameters and if those parameters are not met it is not of God at all so we cannot interpret the Bible about what we experience we must interpret our experiences by the Bible now I want us to discuss something that I believe is a very very important question dealing with the Word of Faith Movement the New Apostolic Reformation movement and the charismatic movement in general because the answer to the question or two questions first questions what is an apostle the answer to that question and then the answer to the question are there apostles today has massive massive implications for the charismatic movement the word of faith you have Stalag Reformation massive massive implications alright so let's talk about what an apostle is well the Greek word apostolos literally means sent one that's all it means one who is sent now the tricky thing is that there are two kinds of apostles the first is the apostles of Christ when we speak of the apostles of Christ we are speaking of the office of apostle and there were twelve of these men apostles of Christ and generally we denote the apostles of Christ with a capital letter a just so we can distinguish between the apostles of Christ and then in the more general sense there are apostles of the church ones who are sent out in this sense missionaries would be an apostle lowercase a an evangelist you know an apostle lowercase a I'm an evangelist so in a sense you could say I'm an apostle but not with a capital A I'm not I'm not an apostle of Christ neither is anybody else today but just any very general sense one who has sent sent out to preach and teach the Word of God we see this with other words in the New Testament as well elder for example elder could simply mean an older man or elder could refer to the office of an elder the same way with the word Deacon Deacon could simply mean servant one who serves or it could refer to the office of the Deacon Deacon it if you will so same thing with apostles so just kind of lay that definition out there so the one we want to focus on is number one apostles of Christ are their apostles today Capitol a apostles are their apostles of Christ today well to answer this question we need to look at the requirements to be an apostle if you wanted to be an apostle of Christ you had to meet three requirements the first requirement you had to meet you had to be a first person I witness of the resurrected Christ first person I witnessed you had to see Christ with your own eyes nobody alive today has ever done this Jesus ascended from the earth almost 2,000 years ago and nobody lives to be that old okay so all of those guys are gone nobody meets this first requirement also you had to be directly appointed by Christ you could not just decide to be an apostle you could not just wake up in one morning and say I think I'm going to be an apostle you did not run for office you did not print bumper stickers and and and campaign signs saying vote for me your next apostle you had to be directly appointed by Christ Christ had to appoint you to be an apostle and third requirement is that a true apostle of Christ had the ability to perform the signs of the Apostles had the ability to perform signs and wonders miracles healings raising the dead well you see this in a number of places st. Corinthians 12:12 refers to the signs of the Apostles healing the sick raising the dead doing these things if you wanted to be an apostle you had to meet all three requirements not two all three in dear friends there is not a person alive anywhere on the planet that meets even one of these requirements much less all three now there are massive implications for that massive if there are no more apostles today then guess what this new Apostolic Reformation it falls it collapses like a house of cards there are no more apostles today bill Johnson is not an apostle Heidi Baker is not an apostle peter Wagner is not an apostle Cindy Jacobs is not an apostle john are not all these people claiming to be apostles no they are not they are not first-person eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ they have not been appointed by Christ to be an apostle they have appointed themselves and they do not have the ability to perform the signs and wonders of an apostle they're not apostles and so this New Apostolic Reformation movement the entire thing is bogus it's illegitimate bill Johnson is a false teacher Cindy Jacobs CheY on Stacey Campbell John are not Peter Wagner Mike Bickle they're false prophets they're false teachers so there are no more apostles today there are no more apostles today if there are no more apostles today then the apostolic gifts are no longer in operation today now the word of faith New Apostolic Reformation movement charismatic sin general would say that for example the Apostolic gift of healing is still an operation day you know there's apostolic gifts tongues interpretation of tongues miracles physical healing let's talk about physical healing a little bit we see in the New Testament that the Apostles Peter Paul had the ability to perform healings right Acts chapter 19 extraordinary miracles of healing were going on at the hands of the Apostles the Apostles could go up to sick people lay hands on them and heal them instantly verifiably and we're not talking about some psychosomatic healing we're not talking about somebody saying oh yeah yeah I think my right shoulder is yeah I can move it better now it's it's feeling better no I'm talking about a real healing I'm talking about the blind seeing I'm talking about the lame walking I'm talking about the dead being raised they had that ability and they could do it with confidence instantly verifiably everybody around the situation saw it and knew it now if those gifts are still in operation today and if the Holy Spirit distributes the spiritual gifts among the body as He wills to do in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 if he does that if all these gifts are still in operation where is the person with the gift of healing now you can go into any genuine Church Bible believing terms and you know what you'll find you'll find people with the gift of teaching you'll find people with a gift of mercy you'll find people with a gift of administration of exhortation with a gift of giving with the gift of hospitality you'll find all these gifts where's the person with the gift of healing where is the person who can go up to a sick person at will with confidence lay hands on that person and that person be instantly healed and again I'm not talking about some psychosomatic healing I'm talking about a Down Syndrome child being restored where's that guy where's the guy who can do that are not the spiritual gifts given for the edification of the body or are they not given for the building up of the church oh well that God just gives the gift of healing on rare occasions really is that true of any of the other spiritual gifts if you have the gift of teaching do you just use that teaching rarely know if you've got the spiritual gift of teaching you know what you're gonna be doing you're using that gift regularly in the church that's why that's why God gave it to you if you have the gift of mercy you'd be using that gift regularly in the church that's why God gave it to you gift of administration I know I don't have that gift so but you're to be using to give these gifts regularly in the church so tell me where is the person with the gift of healing you would think every church would have at least one of them right nobody there's nobody on the planet that has that gift nobody on the planet I will eat my crutch if you can show me one person with a gift feeling I will eat my crutch give me a little salt and butter to put on it and I'll start gnawing on it right now you show me one person with that gift if all of these gifts are still in operation you would think somebody would have it nobody does now don't misunderstand me do I believe that God still heals people today yes I do I do I don't doubt that at all and a lot of people and they'll hear me say this and they'll still at the end and say oh you don't believe it God heals yes I do I do believe that God still heals people today but only when it is his sovereign will to do so only when it's his sovereign willing to do so but when he doesn't he doesn't have to do it through some guy in a fancy white suit flying around on a private jet who wants your money and he's not doing it through any other individual God just does it he just does it but I fully affirm that God not only can but does on occasion heal but that is not the same thing as the Apostolic gift of healing does that make sense two different things two different things but if there are no more apostles today than that or those are its massive implications for the word of faith movement you have stall at Reformation movement charismatic movement in general so I want us to talk about that okay I guess that was about 15 minutes does does anybody have any questions questions or comments yes yeah yeah that's a great question now I'll repeat the questions because it may not be picked up on the the audio but the question is in John's Gospel did not Jesus say make reference to us being God and indeed he did in John chapter 10 John chapter 10 in fact this is one of those things that I address in my seminar but just didn't have the time to do it but I'm gonna pull this up did it hang on yeah I'm gonna pull this up and put it on the screen for you let's look at John chapter 10 verses 30 through 34 Jesus says I and my father are one then the Jews took up stones again to stone him jesus answered them many good works have I showed you from My Father for which of those works do you stone me the Jews answered him saying for a good work we do not stone you but for blasphemy and because that you being a man makest thyself God make yourself out to be God this is a King James it's a little antiquated but jesus answered them is it not written in your law I said Ye are gods and so the prosperity preachers use this as support for their little gods doctrine now Jesus here is when he says is it not written in your law I said here gods he is referencing Psalm chapter 82 and so Psalm chapter 82 the verses specific verses verse 6 and verse 7 I have said in referring asf asf said year gods you are all sons of the Most High but look at the next verse but you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes so is referring to the judges and these these judges had been put and actually as a sign of judgment itself but had put in a position in which they were making decisions about life-and-death matters they were making decisions about issues that typically only God would make and so they were making these decisions and so in that sense they were acting in some capacity making some of the decisions that typically only God would make so in that sense they were kind of acting in that capacity but by their character in their nature very clear from the very next verse but you will die like men why because you are me in you will die like men and following one of the princes they were they were still just men still just flesh and blood men so this is the verse that Jesus was referencing and I think what Jesus is doing here the Jews wanted to kill him because he claimed to be God and so Jesus here I think is using a bit of sarcasm and I think he's using some irony to kind of get back at them and basically what did Jesus is saying is is that what these judges were in theory what these judges were and simply some capacity of the decision-making that they had to do he's Jesus saying I am in reality I am in reality and so why would you have a problem with this and so that's what he was doing these men were not gods they had just been put in a position where they were having to make decisions that typically only God would make so but they were still just men so I think Jesus is using some sarcasm here a lot of sarcasm in the Bible by the way first Corinthians is loaded with sarcasm and you can't really understand without seeing that a lot of what Paul says in first Corinthians really you have to understand the sarcasm that he's using but anyway that's a little side note so anyway so this is not support for the little God's doctrine yeah but good question anybody else the question is about second Peter chapter 1 verse 4 let's uh let's let's look up listeners read the context beginning verse 1 Simon Peter a bondservant really that's slave the translators like to soften that term it's do loss it's not really servants slaves Simon Peter a slave an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence for by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust God has God has attributes God has communicable attributes and in communicable attributes and basically that means that some of God's attributes are in communicable that we will that we do not partake in this out of heaven in particular you know we are not eternal we are not omniscient we are not omnipotent some of God's attributes however are communicable we can partake in them to a degree in this fallen world in this fallen state and the primary one that is in view here is that when we repent of sins and place our trust in Christ we are partakers of Christ's righteousness Christ's righteousness is imputed to us now as a little side note Catholics believe in infused righteousness and the words when Catholics believe when you go to Mass and you take the wafer the host and you drink the the juice the the wine that basically you're getting a little shot of Jesus that you get something like a almost like a shot in the arm you get a little shot of righteousness that's infused righteousness and that's foreign to the Word of God imputed righteousness when we repent of our sins trust Christ we are given his righteousness his his righteousness is imputed to us are we still sinners yes yes we are does God in a judicial sense look at us as sinners in a judicial sense no because we have been given the imputed righteousness of Christ we are not righteous on our own but Christ's righteousness has been credited to our account in that sense it's been imputed to us and so in that sense we are partakers of the divine nature there's only one who is righteous by his character in his nature and that is Christ that is God the triune God God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and so when we become regenerate in Christ new creatures in Christ when we pass from death to life we become you know all things are made new we become the partakers partakers of his divine nature but that does not mean we are fully you know that does not mean we share all of God's in communicable attributes in the full sense of the term not at all so another good question all right anyone else yes ma'am yeah yeah a good question the the question it regards the three requirements to be an apostle the first one is to be a first-person eyewitness of Christ and how does Paul fit into that and I would say that Acts chapter 9 the Damascus Road it was it was Jesus that knocked him from his horse and it was the glory of Christ the resurrected Christ that he saw and so that was that that would meet that requirement and simply act what happened to him on the Damascus Road Acts chapter 9 he did not see Christ in a bodily form but he did see part of the the manifested glory of Christ appeared in it knocked him off his horse so and Christ spoke to him and so you know Paul Saul Saul why you kick against the goads so that's the fulfillment of that requirement anyone else yes sir sure absolutely yeah I'm pulling something up here because I want to use this to answer help answer your question the question is how do we talk to our friends family members who are in this movement who are following bill Johnson or Benny Hinn or one of these others how do we how do we talk to them I would not recommend the very first thing jumping into well you know the word of faith movement is ruder than the metaphysical cults and the New Apostolic Reformation has very aberrant view of the atonement and all that you know people's eyes are going to glaze over but what I would do is begin with something very simple very concrete that people can understand and the reason I do this is because I want to get a feel for how deep into the deception they are and how open they are to being corrected from Scripture and so what I'll do is I'll start with something very simple and I'll almost always start with this physical healing word of faith New Apostolic Reformation all teach universally that it is always God's will to be physically healed in fact bill Johnson has gone so far as to say that if he says if this isn't a direct quote it's really close he says I do I cannot allow for a theology that allows for sickness he says that's a different gospel really ok well I would say this all right you teach that it's always God's will to be healed but what do you do with trophimus who is left sick at Miletus what do you do with a paradise who is sick to the point of death what do you do with Timothy when Paul said to Timothy take a little wine for your stomach in your frequent ailments what do you do with these people what do you do with let's see did that come up on the screen yeah it didn't it didn't I okay why is it I can't get it to change slides for some reason oh well can't get it to come up but what do you do with second Kings chapter 13 when it says that Elijah was fallen sick of his sickness where he died and what do you do with Exodus chapter 4 verse 11 you might want to jot that one down because that's a good one Exodus chapter 4 verse 11 says this the Lord said to Moses who has made man's mouth or who makes him dumb or death and Amundson can't speak dumb or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the LORD that's God talking right there I don't know how you get around that now if you were to tell a word of faith in a art person if you were to say asking this question does God ever make somebody sick no God in fact I've heard news bill Johnson said God cannot give what he doesn't have in other words God doesn't have sickness so he can't give it okay bill what do you do with Exodus chapter 4 verse 11 the Lord said to Moses who has made man's mouth who makes him not who allows you know who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the Lord that's God talking so now the question is who are you going to believe your false teacher that you're following are you going to believe the Bible it's really that simple the Apostle Paul himself in Galatians chapter 4 verse 13 had a bodily illness Galatians chapter 4 verse 13 Paul had a bodily illness I wouldn't even go with the thorn in the flesh because I don't think that was a bodily illness and in himself but Galatians chapter 4 verse 13 Paul said very clearly that he had a bottle of ulis so here you have all these examples of faithful men who loved the Lord and served him and yet they were sick in X's 4 verse 11 is just like that I mean the the death nail to the prosperity gospel so now the question is who you're gonna believe these teachers that you're following are you going to believe the Bible and generally you're gonna have one of two reactions and I've had both of these I have had people and I've flipped over I've flipped open two x's for verse 11 and I've asked them all right just read this for me I give them my Bible just read this for me and ask them to read it and they'll read it and I'll say well what'd he do with that and I have had people say I don't care what that says I don't care what that says I just know God doesn't make anybody sick you just read the verse and see if somebody says that if they if they say I don't care what that says then that tells you that they are they're closed to being corrected from Scripture I mean if you show them these things very clearly I mean simple stuff black and white and they still reject it then where do you go from there there's nowhere to go there you can there's nowhere to take it if they will not submit to the authority of God's Word and there's nothing else you can do there's no amount of reasoning that will convince them on the other hand I have had people read that verse and see the example of trophimus and in Timothy and appt afroditi sand Paul and Elijah and and I've had them look at those and I've people some people have looked at them said huh I don't know I've never thought about it that way and if you have a reaction like that if you sent some tenderness if you sent some openness to being corrected from Scripture that's a good thing that's what you're looking for that's what you want and so then that isn't as a door you know all right well let's let's talk about these things a little bit more let's you know let's talk about some of their false prophecies let's talk about how they don't meet the requirements to be an apostle let's talk about what they say about Jesus now then you can go into some of these deep things and so that just gives it's a good little litmus test to take somebody's temperature see where they are and if somebody's not open to being corrected from Scripture there's really nothing else you can do I mean you could stand on your head all day long they're not gonna hear you so then all you can do for that person is just pray for them and pray that at some point later God will soften their heart so make no mistake this is demonic deception and it does take God to open their eyes it does take God to open their hearts just like he opened Lydia's heart that's what it's going to take to bring people out of this but happily let me tell you that I get emails from people all over the world almost on a daily basis and rarely does a day pass when I don't get an email from somebody saying God has brought me out of this so it it does happen God is bringing people out of this so be encouraged by that okay another question yes sir yep yep absolutely that's right yep yep that's right there's there's more examples of this very thing John chapter 9 the man who's born blind the disciples asked Jesus master teacher who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind you know his disciples just assumed that this man's poor condition had to be a result of either his sin or his parents sin and a lot of these were to faith in they are folks today teach that if you're sick it's your fault your sin and Jesus said it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents but it was an order that the works of God might be displayed in him the power of God might be displayed in him it was for the it was for the glory of God in job job was a man who was upright and righteous had done nothing wrong it was not that he was sinless because no sinless but but he had done nothing really deserving of all of these calamities that fell upon him and God allowed Satan to come and to strike from job everything he had his possessions destroyed his family was killed and job's own health deteriorated I mean job's suffered like we cannot even imagine why did God do that he did it for his glory sometimes God is most glorified in us when we suffer when we are persecuted when we are sick it's easy to praise the Lord if everything's going great you know that's easy and even Satan recognize that and Joe well sure Jobe serves you look at what you've given him look at that you know hedge of protection that you've put around him by the way a hedge of protection it's not something we can pray for and set up that hedge of protection around Jobe God set that up so a lot of you hear a lot of people saying oh I'll pray a hedge of protection around you like it's some magical incantation and nothing will ever be able to touch you if you just pray a hedge of protection no it's not the point God set that hedge up and Satan said oh sure sure God sure he serves you look at what you've done for him and and God took that heads down and Satan attack Jobe but God allowed that for his own glory yes bill sure sure the seeker-sensitive movement you kind of have two different flavors if you will of the seeker sensitive movement one is just what you're describing this so many churches it used to be with just the liberal what we call the mainline Protestant denominations the the Episcopalians the the you know the the the the big denominations and there's a little bit of difference so I'm gonna have to be careful how I use my terminology here your Noreen from the states but but meant most of the big denominations in the United States and like the Methodists part of the Presbyterian not all them but one wing of the Presbyterian Church is gone to liberal Episcopal Church totally liberal their mission is social justice being good people we we feed the hungry we help the poor we fight for social justice for the downtrodden and that's what church is and then so that's that's the Liberals but then you have like the emergent church and they say we're not we're missional but they don't mean by missions what you and I would mean by missions they mean we just want to be like Jesus in the in the culture we want to do the same thing you know we want to feed the sick and help the poor and and you know all this all these good works but they do all this apart from the gospel they do it apart from the gospel and this is moralism this is thinking that you're gonna please God or serve God just by by being moral by doing some good works and yet the Bible says that our works are as filthy rags as filthy rags now works are vitally important but see what the seekers sensitive movement does is they get the cart before the horse they put works as their centerpiece and they don't talk about sin they don't talk about repentance they don't talk about the new birth in Christ it's just works now for the Christian who has been regenerated by God's Holy Spirit we have been brought to new life in Christ then works will be a natural outflow of that regeneration that will be our that will be the fruit that we bear and then we do you know do what we can for people but that is always as a fruit of salvation that's not in any way trying to earn salvation or to please God just by works the gospel has got to be primary gospel has got to be primary and so what if you if you give a hungry person a hamburger but don't give them the gospel what good is that done them it fills their bellies for a few hours or even if even if you do something even if you were to give them a home to live in and food for the rest of their lives even if you were to care for them for the rest of their lives if you don't give them the gospel what good have you done them they're going to die and go to hell and endure the wrath of God for all of eternity so the gospel has got to be first and foremost and then the other part of the seeker sensitive movement our churches who call themselves evangelical but they water down the gospel they claim to believe in salvation by grace through faith but they water it down it's not an emphasis they make Church fund they make it entertaining they in they bring elements of the culture into the church rock bands and lights and fog machines and you know and the church is like entertainment and they want to meet people's felt needs you know they want to attract the world the thinking is if we can make church fun if we can make it entertaining then we will attract the world in and then hopefully somewhere along the way they'll pick up bits and pieces here and there and they'll decide to become Christ followers that's an offense to the gospel that's that's not what church is Church is not for lost people okay by its definition that ekklesia church is those who have been called out church is for the saved in church is intended to glorify God now if you want to talk about a seeker you could look to mark chapter 10 mark chapter 10 if you want to look at a seeker I think it's yeah the rich young ruler verse 17 you know these churches say we need to be seeker sensitive we need to be sensitive to the seekers out there I don't want to preach this I don't have time to preach this whole text but verse 17 mark 10 as he was setting out on a journey a man ran up to him knelt before him asked him good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life very serious I mean here's a seeker okay if you want to talk about a seeker this guy's it he ran out to Jesus knelt before him gave a very formal address an address of respect good teacher and the weighty nature of his question what must not do to be saving here's a seeker Jesus said to him why do you call me good no one is good except God alone Jesus was actually affirming his deity there you know the commandments do not murder do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not defraud honor your father and mother and he said to them to him teacher I've kept all these things from my youth up so Jesus gives them the commandments gives him the law of God and the young man the rich young ruler said I've kept all these things you know he was a religious person looking at him Jesus felt a love for him felt compassion and he said one thing you lack go sell all you possess give to the poor you will have treasure in heaven and then come follow me but at these words he was saddened and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much now of course Jesus was not saying if you sell everything you have give to the poor and you live like a hermit somewhere then you can earn God's favor because scripture gives abundant testimony our work serves filthy rags we're not going to impress God with doing these good works but Jesus knew that with this young man this rich young ruler his God was his money in Jesus zeroed in on that like a laser he knew it he knew this man's God was his money he said get rid of it get rid of it and then come follow me salvation is free discipleship is not following Christ is not free it costs us and whatever it is that is more important to us than the glory of God Jesus says get rid of it you know Jesus if there was ever a sinker this seeker this guy was it Jesus didn't say to this young man oh come here let me here let me get you a chair and let me prop your feet up can I get you a cup of coffee let's uh how can I meet your needs how can I make you more comfortable he said he Jesus took the direct opposite approach of the seeker sensitive churches this is how Jesus handled a seeker you want to come follow me you seriously want to come follow me everything you have that is between you and me what that is that is most important to you get rid of it then come follow me so that's how Jesus handled a secret so what we see in the seeker movement is completely opposite of what we see in Scripture sure yeah some of the in the United States I it started with Robert Schuller I don't know if any of you have heard of Robert Schuller Crystal Cathedral started with Robert Schuller but the one who has really taken the baton of the seeker movement in the last twenty years has been Rick Warren Rick Warren has been I'd say probably the tip of the spear and the secrets movement along with Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church two peas in a pod there Rick Warren and Bill Hybels so and then multiplied thousands of churches have basically copied their models you know they they do church like Rick Warren like Bill Havel and Rick Warren actually encourages preachers to preach his sermons you know he wants he wants to have Purpose Driven churches and so Rick Warren is a false teacher Rick Warren Bill Hybels are the are the two big ones yes sir yeah question is before I started my ministry was ever involved in the charismatic movement that not in an official capacity I was raised Southern Baptist but in Southern Baptists are not known for being you know of that persuasion but there are charismatic elements that have definitely crept into Southern Baptist churches even though they don't realize it but but no my interest in this began when I was a teenager and as you know I was born with several palsy but as a teenager a neighbor of mine who lived right down the street from parents came up to me and he said Justin God has spoken to me and he's told me that he's going to heal you as long as you have enough faith and at age 16 I really wanted that I was a teenager I wanted to walk I wanted to run I wanted to play football American football you know I wanted to do all these things and so I really latched on to it he told me about a faith healer named Nora Lamb who is going to come to Vicksburg Mississippi my hometown and you know this guy's name is Charlie and actually Charlie just passed away just died about four three four days ago but Charlie he's always getting a dream always getting a vision God's always talking to him and at age 16 I had no discernment I wasn't even converted at the time I thought it was but it wasn't and so so I latched on to it and I went to see Nora lamb I went to see RW schambach seriously doubt you've heard of him but it was pretty popular for a while in states so I went to see these faith healers I went to some of their meetings and I thought I had all the faith you know I was expecting to be healed and obviously I wasn't healed and so that's what began my interest in the movement that's how I was first exposed to it but at the time I didn't even know it was a movement I had no idea it had a name it was not until years later in seminary that I started to study it at a more academic level and and so but that was that was what sparked my interest and and some people have charged me about being bitter they say the reason I do these seminars is I'm bitter I'm bitter that I wasn't healed when I was a teenager but dear friends I want to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth if I have to live the rest of my life with cerebral palsy that's fine I've got all of eternity to live without it so you know it's no big deal this life is short so I've got all of eternity to live without and so it's it's not something that I'm bitter about at all in God's providence II he orchestrated those events to prepare me to do what I'm doing now so and and and now I'm driven I tell people when I go I go to Benny Hinn Crusades I go to Kenneth Copeland meetings I've been to the todd Bentley meetings and I grieve over the people I grieved that I see so many sick and hurting and desperate people being exploited it grieves me but what grieves me more than that is that the name of God is being blaspheme and the gospel is being distorted that's what should grieve us most and that's what should drive us to confront this movement and then tell people the truth anyone else okay all right I'll repeat the question for the recording the question is about James chapter 5 verses 13 through 15 and I know he read it but just for the recording is any among you suffering then he must pray is anyone cheerful he is to sing praises is anyone among you sick then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will ride raise him up and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him and a lot of people read this and say well that certainly sounds like a blanket promise for healing I mean James says is any among you sick let him call the elders of the church they'll anoint him with all pray over him and he will be raised up you'll be healed sounds like a blanket promise well this word there there's two different takes on this this word that's rendered as sick in the Greek is asked the new Oh and that word could refer could refer to physical sickness it could also refer to a spiritual weakness it could go either way just taking the word by itself so the only way to really know which is the proper rendering is by the context in which it is used and granted there's some in the context here that could argue for either rendering so it kind of makes it tough and scholars come down to different ways some say that it is indeed talking about a physical sickness now let's just say that it is if it is is this a blanket promise if you follow these steps a couple things to notice number one is anyone among you sick then he must call for the elders of the church to come to him what do we see with these faith healers the faith healers call the sick to them so what we see with Benny Hinn even if you believe that James 5 is talking about physical sickness is completely opposite of what we see modeled here James 5 it's the one who is sick calling the elders of the church saying elders I'm sick come to me what does Benny Hinn say all you who are sick you come to me so it's opposite of what we see with James 5 so some people do believe that this is a sickness now is this a blanket promise for healing it cannot be that but cause one of the fundamental rules of her Manu Biggs's that we lent scripture interpret scripture you've got to take the totality of scripture and look at how it interprets itself and we've already seen that there are many other examples in Scripture of faithful men of God who were sick and yet they weren't healed so my scriptures on testimony it cannot be a blanket promise for healing it could be that a sick person may desire to follow these instructions call the elders and they can anoint him with all pray over him if somebody wants to do that I would certainly not be one to say don't do that I would you know if somebody a sick person called for me to pray for them would I do that certainly I would but it still cannot be a blanket 100 percent guarantee promise because of all these others because of Pafford itis cause of timothy elijah paul moses all-in job all these others now there is the other view that this is not a physical sickness but a spiritual weakness and I'll lean towards that view I'll lean towards that view you know who john macarthur is and phil johnson is his kind of like right-hand man you know field if you've heard of Phil Johnson and Phil Johnson is very able theologian and Phil Johnson thinks that this is talking about a physical sickness John MacArthur thinks it's talking about a spiritual weakness so you have here you know two very able theologians and they they differ a little bit on this so it shows you how difficult this passage is to specifically identify what this sickness means physical sickness or spiritual weakness I lean towards the spiritual weakness because we stopped at verse 15 but look at verse 16 look at verse 16 therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed if this is talking about physical sickness it's kind of odd that it would be stuck here because nothing else in the book of James even hints at answer or arthritis or whatever everything is talking about living the Christian life and it's the whole context here before and after it James is talking about sin and I think I think the context particularly in dealing with the the rest of the book the context argues for a spiritual weakness rather than a physical sickness so anyway that's that's what I would do with James v I don't think it's talking about a physical sickness I think the context most strongly supports that is this is a physical weakness like some kind of a recurring sin or a temptation that this person is dealing with call the elders and to to kind of butcher see them and support him so yes new question okay sure sure the question is in regards to Christians who go through dark times go through times of doubt doubting one's salvation where the you know things are are dark they struggle with sin there are they may have sin in their lives what what do you say to to one who is in that situation and I think if we're all honest have we not probably each and every one of us going through time and we've doubted am I really saved sure I bet everybody everybody in here including me you know we would go through those times of doubt I think it's interesting John the Baptist remember when John the Baptist was arrested and he was thrown into prison and things were not working out the way John the Baptist thought that they would I mean he had just baptized Christ you know he said I'm not worthy to untie his sandals John the Baptist knew who Jesus was he was a voice crying in the wilderness he was preparing the way but then he was arrested thrown into prison and things weren't working out like he thought they would and so John sent word through some of his disciples to Christ and asked him are you the Messiah or should we look for someone else so here's John the Baptist and he's doubting and and what did Jesus say in response no man is no man born of woman is greater than John the Baptist he didn't condemn him he didn't chastise him you know so I think that's interesting and it's kind of a compassionate Jesus was very compassionate towards John the Baptist didn't condemn him so even John the Baptist went through a season of doubt and I have no doubt that we will see John the Baptist in heaven I don't think is doubt lasted I don't think it lasted but people who may be doubting their salvation because of some valley some spiritual valley that they're going through some the settings sin that they may have there's a paradox in the Christian life because once a person is saved he's indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and he is no longer a slave to sin he's no longer slave of sin a Christian does still sin but he's not a slave to it and a Christians life should be not should not be marked by a habitual unrepentant sin that's not the mark of a Christian that having even said you know when you look at Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter 7 what what Paul says he says I do that thing which I hate you know and and Mille for Paul he had something in his life that he was doing that was sinful and he hated it and it vexed him and some say well that was Paul before he was converted I don't think it was I think Paul was writing that as a Christian one of the the paradox of sanctification for the Christian is this is that as we grow in the Grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ our lives should be marked by a pattern yes well they'll be dips and you know mountaintops and valleys along the way but but on the whole there's going to be a pattern of growing in the Grace and knowledge of Christ of increasing in personal holiness sin will not be our lives will be not will not be marked and characterized by habitual unrepentant sin we will have victory over that an occasional stumbling a Christian can stumble into sin a Christian does not swim and sin a Christian does not enjoy sin because sin should grieve the Christian but when we see when we read in Romans seven I don't think we're looking at a pre converted Paul I think we're looking at a converted Paul and the more Paul was growing in holiness the more he was growing in the Grace and knowledge of the Lord Christ the more he saw how fallen he still was whereas before there were things in Paul's life undoubtedly right after he was saved he didn't even think about as being a sin but what happens as he grows and he grows as Anna sanctification grows in his knowledge of the Lord Christ he starts to he sees things that 510 years or whatever before he never even saw and that happens to us as we grow and mature in Christ I hope it will be said of me if the Lord allows me to live this long that twenty years from now I will be ahead of where I am right now in my sanctification in twenty years from now I will probably see things in my life right now that I'm oblivious to but as I grow then oh gosh I see I didn't even see this before so you see I think Romans 7 is the mark of a mature Christian he sees things that he just hadn't seen before and so does that make sense so I think that's what it is and so first John read the book of first John John gives us the test for a Christian you know ask yourself if you doubt your salvation look at yourself examine yourself do you have a love for the Lord do you have a love for his word is there a pattern of growing in the Grace and knowledge of Christ do you desire to grow in your walk with Christ do you have a godly sorrow over your sin 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 do you have that God do you grieve over your sin because you understand that your sin grieves God do you have a love for the Brethren and if you have these things rejoice you're one of his and so don't doubt your salvation just because you stumbled in sin now if you enjoy your sin and you're swimming in it then you should doubt your salvation but not an occasional stumble into sin we're all going to do that in the best remedy for doubting is to just get back into the word you know and sometimes I think I just you know there's I just don't want to read you know your if the doubts are keeping you from reading the best the best and the only solution is to get back into the word that is God's revelation to you get back into the word read it study it even if you don't want to do it and just be faithful in God's Holy Spirit well right yeah it's not you know we shouldn't look at our own good works there is fruit of salvation that you know there's the fruit of the Spirit there's these things that first John writes about but yeah yeah you're exactly right we've got to remember that we're we don't have to keep our salvation we don't have to merit God's acceptance in fact we cannot merit it we have to remember that Christ's work on the cross was complete it was sufficient it was once for all and our salvation rest not in us not in our merits but him his person his merits not us and it's a very freeing thing to know that that he is the author and finisher of our faith and he who began a good work will be faithful to complete it and so we rest in him not in ourselves okay I think I understand the the question from the first session I said if you if you read study and obey the Word of God if you if you do these if you read God's Word on regular basis you will get discernment and that is with the the assumption I was talking about Christians you know if if you are regenerate new creature in Christ and you have a practice of reading the Word of God you will get discernment now lots of people read the Bible and they're not Christians you know you see these liberal theologians these egg-headed scholars that think they're all that in a bag of chips you know and they think they're so smart but they're reading it and they're lost you know they've not been made alive in Christ so you can you can anybody can read the Bible and get some factual information from it but so I'm sort of said maybe that this is with the assumption that you are truly a Christian and you've been made alive in Christ and then when you when you're when you have the when your heart of stone has been taken out and replaced with a heart of flesh and you read the scriptures then that discernment will come and and you mentioned revelation that maybe it's a I want to I want to define a couple of terms and I'm not sure maybe there's just a language barrier here but oftentimes we think of we we hear people talk about revelation I got revelation on this no you didn't because there's there's revelation and then there's illumination revelation is new information that is not already recorded in Scripture revelation isn't happening anymore nobody's getting revelation illumination is when the Holy Spirit of God illumines what is already written and that should be happening for us so as that makes sense is that what he meant okay okay so yeah so no more revelation God isn't giving any new information that's not already recorded ascription we'll talk about that tomorrow night actually with these people who claim they've been to heaven so no more revelation going on illumination should be going on the Holy Spirit of lumina meaning of the text to our hearts yes okay all right thank you

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Keywords: Exposing the False Doctrines, Word of Faith, justin peters, justin, peters, nærbø, kilden menighet, kilden, 2015, vasvik media, vassvik media, vasvig media, vassvig media, vasvikmedia, vassvikmedia, vasvigmedia, vassvigmedia

Id: Q2HoPq5AFCc

Length: 66min 3sec (3963 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2015