Apostasy Update T. A. McMahon

thank you Jim and Linda I'll write a couple more announcements Bob Mel who is in charge of the wires around here reminded me that we are not to have people approach the podium not only because it causes congestion when we have the next speaker coming up but because his precious wires can get kicked out which is which is really a problem so after the speaker has spoken if you want to ask a question or in Tom's case correct an error he made something like that please hold the questions till the rear let the speaker get to the back of the room and then we'll we'll be able to set up things up front and and Bob won't be mad at me did I do okay Bob he's shaking his head I'm ok all right now our first speaker today is in need of a great introduction well no he's not it's it's Tom McMann but let me let me tell you Tom recently was reiterating the story of how we met I had been friends with Dave hunt for a while and I was going to the Christian bookstores Association convention in New Orleans Louisiana and Dave said well why don't you share a room with Tom we're getting a room for Tom and you might as well share a room and I'd heard Tom speak but I never I never really met him so I said okay that sounds good to me so I got the address of the hotel and I showed up in New Orleans I walked down to a very bad bad bad part of town and I said I'm supposed to share a room with Tom McMahon to the desk clerk and since I was a the only person in the vicinity who was not on crack cocaine he assumed I must have a legitimate reason so he handed me a key which was kind of unusual I had no idea that Tom had not cleared this in advance so I was tired I I fell asleep on the bed and Tom walks in the room and here's a 6 foot 6 inch 220 pound guy asleep on his bed and he felt sort of like Goldilocks or I guess it's the Bears who got but it worked out ok it showed me how gracious Tom can be as an individual he he just said who are you and why are you in my room in a very nice manner and it's gotten better since then but we're very thankful to have Tom able to share with us he puts together the speakers at the conference every year often bringing people I've never heard of I don't know about and I follow these things pretty closely and by God's grace he's blessed every year and I'm confident he's gonna bless it again this year so I'm very thankful and excited to hear what Tom's gonna share with us Tom McMann [Applause] well for those in the back didn't hear it good morning you know I love Rob from that day one of the reasons you know if you called the Berean call and wanted to speak to me and you said could you connect me with mr. Frugalicious that's I picked out the the motel room and it was in the lower rent district of New Orleans New Orleans and yeah we took a bus down we anyway he's been a great guy great guy or I just love him dearly in the Lord you know before I get going with my message there's been a slight change in in the schedule I'm gonna give a different message this morning but I have two other messages that I'm gonna give which we're going to shift to tomorrow I'm on this actually on this schedule it'd be nice if I had that I mean okay I'm really good at technical stuff as you can see so I'm actually moving the talk that I had scheduled for this morning to Saturday afternoon right after lunch the reason being is that we have scheduled Warren Smith and Warren can't make it Warren was at the airport in Sacramento and you know Warren has had some heart issues and after popping three nitroglycerin tablets which didn't change anything for him he decided really by the grace of God not to get on the airplane with his wife Julie so he's in the hospital right now in Sacramento the good news is he's very stable he's been witnessing I got an email or a text from him this morning he's already been met witnessing all over the place there so but he's really grieved and saddened that he that he couldn't be with us so I would appreciate prayer for him and when I say that let's do it Lord we so thankful for brother Warren and what a blessing he was to us last year and what he is continually just a great friend Lordan you know is your Jehovah Rapha the God it heals and we cry out to you for your healing touch upon him and Lord you knew these things would take place before the beginning of time so Lord and we also know that there's a plan for him and for all of us Lord God so we just pray that you would work that out in him and through him by your spirit that he would be effective where he is as the email or text me this morning he just wants to use the Redeem the time that you have him the air Lord so that's our prayer for for him and for joy we know the spouses sometimes I won't say they suffer more but you know there's there's an anguish there because of her love for for Warren anyway Lord we know you'll bless them and we just thank you for that in Jesus precious name Amen amen so it's it's interesting because you know the two talks that I had planned for this this talk that I'm going to give this morning is actually a preamble to that so you don't want to after I got over being what do we do now I went over some of the messages that I've given and not here but but in other places and this this fits in you see the other two messages are going to deal with issues that are going on more conceptually but sometimes we can't plug in the particular x' and that's what I'm hoping and praying that this might do it'll give us some as a preamble to those now if you look I think the in the schedule it says the the looming storm that's ahead something to that effect and and there is one but so this is a preamble to that so I just pray the Lord will use it to his glory into all of our benefits Lord so the thing to do the thing I want to start with this morning is to go over some things that the Bible says the Bible says will take place prior to the Lord Jesus Christ returning for his bride the church and there are a few reasons why they are important and why that the Lord has these things for us well first of all the Lord put that information in the scriptures he obviously has a purpose for it now since most of the information related to the return of Jesus involves spiritual seduction and deception being aware of what the Bible says about such things serves the purpose of helping us to avoid being deceived by them scripture tells us about these sons or children of Issachar of the twelve tribes this is in 1st chronicles chapter 12 verse 32 it says and the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the time to know what Israel ought to do well that's an understanding that we need today as Christians so why would I say that well if you have your Bibles I hope you brought your Bibles because you were in here you need to check out I mean not just because what Rob said okay we we need to check one another out so Matthew chapter 24 I'm gonna read from verse three starting with verse three and as he that is Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying tell us what shall these things when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world and jesus answered and said unto them take heed take heed that no man deceive you based on what Jesus said regarding the days prior to his second coming which he obviously characterized as a time of a religious deception it would seem that understanding of times and knowing the instructions of Scripture are very very necessary notice I said the instructions of Scripture that's critical we are if we are getting our spiritual insights or instructions from any other source any other source we are on a hazardous path fraught with deceptions if it's not God's Word that we're getting then whose is it well Jesus warns us about those who claim to be speaking for God continuing with Matthew 24 let's look at verse 5 for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many look at verse 11 and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many now go to verse 24 for there shall arise false Christ's and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders and so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect you know one of the things that I love about the Word of God so much is when it gives us warnings it also supplies what we need in order to deal with what we're being warned about I call that God's spiritual protection program and I'll be talking more about that later Bob could you just stay up here well anyway we need to begin with our understanding of the times or perhaps for some of us maybe a lack of awareness regarding what's taking place in the world and in Christendom you see and we know much of this the world has never been a friend of biblical Christianity and by the way that's the only title I'll take people say are you Christian well I say well I'm a biblical Christian and that's what we all need to be because there are a lot of so-called Christians out there well seemingly in just about every situation all religions get a pass except Christianity you know in some of the airports that I've been to around the world well they have prayer rooms all for reading the Bible no they are set up for Muslims and the problem is that so we have prayer rooms set up for Muslims but Christians are forbidden forbidden to read their Bibles in their own classrooms Eastern meditation under the deception of calling TM or mindfulness which I'm be talking about my other messages is promoted in schools but meditating upon the Psalms that's outlawed laws have been passed forcing churches to marry males in the homosexual relationship and females in a lesbian relationship a greater CERN concern in my view however is what's taking place in the church the body of Christ that consists of professing Christians and true believers why is that a greater concern well Christians are exhorted to be steadfast in the faith and fruitful in their walk with Jesus yet that seems to be happening less and less today God hasn't changed neither has his word his grace is still available for those who are born again for those who are by the Spirit of God born by the Spirit of God and through repentance have turned to Jesus for the remission of their sins which Christ paid for in full through his death burial and resurrection only a true believer enabled by His grace can be fruitful and productive in any eternal sense as we're told in Zechariah 4:6 this is the word of the Lord from unto Zerubbabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts again nothing of eternal value nothing that is pleasing to God can be accomplished without the grace of God on the other hand if a true believer falls prey to a false teaching or practice and/or gets involved in a program that is contrary to God's Word God will not support that deviation from his truth with His grace now I'm not talking about salvation here which is a free gift paid for completely by Jesus but I'm referring to one's attempt at doing good works which can only be good if it's true to God's Word and empowered by His grace grace is never involved in a false belief or but for the believer who is let's say unwittingly led astray by such things God's mercy is available you know I believed the only success that Satan can have in the life of a born-again believer is to instigate him into drifting away or turning away from the Scriptures you know that's how Satan started with mankind in Genesis chapter 3 you guys know this verse and he that is Satan said unto the woman yea hath God said Oh strategy from the beginning has been to undermine the Word of God and the undermining has included mocking it ridiculing and corrupting it slandering labelling it adding to it subtracting from it distorting it discouraging disparaging it and discouraging those who would turn to it all those defamations are to turn believers away and keep the lost away from god's truth so what are the some of some of the most prominent false teachings and practices that are drawing away Christians from the Word of God well I'm just gonna go from tip of the iceberg to tip of the iceberg here but let's start with ecumenism that has to do with cooperation between Christian churches that compromise the truth of God's Word as well as cooperation among the the world's religions you may know that at their core there are only two spiritual beliefs in the world bottom line they are what I call the do versus the done the do is the way all religions of the world go about doing things in order to achieve what may be their their ultimate goal which could be heaven which could be paradise nirvana happy hunting ground Valhalla we could go through whole list of these things well these things they do comprise works salvation works salvation the done is the belief of biblical Christianity there is nothing the person can do in order to achieve salvation Jesus did it all and he offers salvation to everyone it's something a person only has to receive it's a free gift as you know you you don't pay for a free gift yes as I said all the religions of the world are based on works salvation they believe they're earning it so the air of ecumenism is Christianity working together with various religions for some spiritual or practical purpose Billy Graham for example well he worked with Roman Catholics for much of his life especially in his Crusades which included using Catholic priests and nuns as counselors I grew up Roman Catholic and I can tell you firsthand that Catholicism is a system of works salvation ironically and and that Dave Hunt would give examples of this Billy often gave a clear gospel message very confusing but thank you for the clear Gospel message Rick Warren met with leaders of the world's religions at Davos Switzerland and his message was and I'm quoting can't we all just get along and then he asked them if they might all work together for for some good well that's the mystery but it's not the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine scripture says then another tip the iceberg here is psychological counseling it's taken over a large part of the evangelical church under the guise of so-called Christian psychology through its influences the false doctrines of self-esteem self image self love have become new doctrines in many evangelical churches which got that belief and that concept from godless men and women yet someone tells us that blessed are those who walk not walk not in the counsel of the ungodly he would think that would be enough no you see psychological counseling founders and most prominent practitioners were atheists and spiritualists occultists that I would think that would qualify them as the counsel of the ungodly you know folks we like to make things I say we the world humanity likes to make things very complex and it's not complex the more I go through the Word of God the more profound it is to me on the one hand on the other hand the truths are really simple right out there well rare is the church today that does not refer their members out to professional psychotherapist well what's the problem with that well they're far too many to mention here but I need to name a couple its theories and practices have no scientific basis I'm talking about psychotherapy talk therapy psychological counseling psychological researchers tell us that psychotherapy creates more problems than it solves not some Christians but the researchers are telling us that but more significantly for us it's concepts are diametrically opposed to the Word of God bottom line psychological counseling opposes the belief in the sufficiency of Scripture 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 3 that verse tells us that God has given us in his word all things not some things all things that pertain to life and godliness it's a problem in the church and then there is the emergent or emerging church movements well that's a movement that tries to make Christianity more culture friendly and therefore more acceptable to non-christians it's hugely popular among young adult Christians it has reintroduced mysticism which I'm going to be talking about at length and you'll know why during the message but it's reintroduced mysticism to our youth by turning to rituals that appeal to the senses bells and smells and candles incense religious arts and the like of course it has re presented rituals taken from Roman Catholic ceremonies like the mass the Stations of the Cross and so forth you can find the state we have former Catholics here did you raise your hand you can find the Stations of the Cross in evangelical youth rooms not all I was at fourteen twelve or fourteen but anyway they reduce it down I think they reduce it to anyway it's still a shocker no matter what the numbers are well the movements most visible leaders are Rob Bell and Brian McLaren and I could go for hours with their heresies with their things Brian McLaren calls the book of Revelation oh it's just all metaphors it's really an upbeat book you just don't understand the symbolism really I'll be talking about that and then of late not so late because it's been around for a while but it seems to be growing the Hebrew roots movement this is also a growing development known as well it's cotton you know it's kind of cozying up to Hebrew culture now it has no organization with recognizable leaders yet it has multitudes that are drawn to it they're led to believe in effect that Jewishness is is next to godliness it's attractive to many of us who love Jesus why because Jesus was born a Jew because as believers we are the spiritual children of Abraham for me personally I was born in Brooklyn New York I love Jewish food before I became a believer I was in the movie business in Hollywood now if you don't know the movie business was started by Jews it started in New York Nickelodeon's any of you oldies there are those my work at 20th Century Fox work was involved with working with Jews it was there I developed a fairly extensive Yiddish vocabulary Yiddish if you don't know it's a combination of a German Hebrew language at the movie studio I started out as a schlep ax I would slap things for here today take him over to producers I was in the advertising and publicity department when I started there however as much as I loved the Jewish culture it doesn't get me closer to God and that's the problem with the Hebrew roots movement I'm going to talk about some things that we've done you know at the end of this message to get this kind of information out there but well those in the Hebrew roots movement believed much of what is simply cultural or traditional has spiritual value for example that would include the prayer shawl and the yarmulke or kippa the skullcap worn on the head of a Jewish male another example is the Passover Seder dinner which is the remembrance of the Jews of Exodus the exodus from Egypt many of the elements in the Passover Seder dinner however have no biblical basis almost all of those things that I've mentioned were introduced 400 years or more after the destruction of the Jewish temple they're found in the Talmud an instructional document which the Jewish rabbis put together for Jews to practice their faith after the temple was destroyed the priesthood had ended no longer was there any possibility of a sacrifice to be offered you see the point of mentioning all this is the Hebrew roots movement is attracting numerous Gentiles or non-jews to things that seemed seem or feel and I'm going to be talking a lot about feeling in my next two messages that seemed to have spiritual value but are in fact man-made they are being deceived into turning back to the law to Jewish feast days to sabbath-keeping additionally they are told that they cannot understand the Gospels without knowing the Hebrew language the leaders in the movement claim that the Gospels were originally written in Hebrew not true and there is no evidence whatsoever that the Gospels were first written in Hebrew no no manuscripts nothing like that this is a modern-day version of what the letter to the Galatians is all about there being judaized well next is kingdom dominionism now this is a movement that has both charismatic penico and charismatic and Pentecostal as well as mainline and reformed thrust to it some among the charismatic sand Pentecostals declare that there is a worldwide revival coming and especially anointed individuals will usher it in once that takes place after turning this world into a paradise their goal their objective then and only then can Jesus return to take over the reins of his kingdom well a little more to say that in a minute but you see this is all this is also as I mentioned not just the the charismatic so you know rod page is going to be talking to us about a major institution that is into this big time I'm talking about Bethel and Bethel that's bill Johnson's and they have a school of miraculous or signs and wonders anyway that's something Rob is the rod is going to cover but what about the mainline denominational and conserve conservative who are into this it's a variation of the kingdom dominionism it's called amillennialism meaning against it's against the Millennium those who are all Millennials do not believe in the literal thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ they spiritualize the scripture and believe that we are now in the Millennium Jesus Christ and which has gone on far more than a thousand years and began with the start of the church age within Reformation theology which started about 500 years ago there have been historical temps physically setting up the the kingdom of God John Calvin tried to do so in Geneva as did politician and Calvinist Abraham Kuyper in the Netherlands in the in the early 20th century both were short-lived and created serious problems especially in Calvin's Geneva but in the late 20th century they we had something called Christian reconstruction ISM Coalition on revival and they believed that they were implementing some of the teachings of the Old Testament law you see one of the other thing I'm going to mention in my next two talks is this stuff is all connected and I'll point out some of these these connections which you meet you know you're aware I'm sure but anyway they implemented some of the teachings of the Old Testament law that the world could be they believed the world could be transformed into the kingdom of God by applying the law and in the world would see how great that is and come to Christ Wow many denominations hold millennialism and most of them believe that the church has replaced Israel an offshoot of that we have a social gospel we have social justice we have fixing the world's problems these are all going on today and the sad part is many of our young people and they want to be helpful they want to do things you know some of us oldies like myself I mean you know before I was a believer we had the Peace Corps we wanted to help the world well we see that same enthusiasm misdirected but we see that in our youth today well fixing the world's problems social gospel so suggests their attempts to the gospel by meeting man's temporal needs and solving his temporal problems such programs have greatly influenced the church even though many of them have turned to the world's way of doing things and the in the process have turned to supporting anti-biblical and anti-semitic groups you want an example world vision started out well now they follow the unbiblical UN dictates and are a major ally of the palestinian liberation movements some of whose funding for weapons was supplied by World Vision many liberal and not so liberal denominations are involved in boycotting goods to Israel the objective of fixing the problems of the world is also connected to setting up the kingdom in order for Christ to return although some would not claim to be part of the kingdom dominionism or amillennialism nevertheless they fit in functionally there's an example the most well known fixer of the world's problems is also today's most influential Pastor Rick Warren he calls his approach his global peace plan peña see peace plan and it's basically an attempt to eradicate the world's problems for example spiritual emptiness poverty illiteracy disease and it goes on through the cooperation of the religions of the world how fixing the world's spiritual problems or spiritual emptiness can be remedied by working with leaders in Hinduism and Buddhism Judaism Mormonism Islam is more than a mystery not only are their beliefs contradictory to one another they're all about as I said works salvation and which is diametrically opposed to biblical Christianity then there is the contemplative theology Eastern mysticism much more of that and my next two messages but I mentioned some and repeat some of it later but I think it's important yoga as you're no doubt aware has taken over Western civilization in many forms which is that's hardly an overstatement well it's hard enough to believe that yoga the spiritual heart of Hinduism has taken over Western culture to see it come into the church like a flood is beyond belief except it's a fact of church life today numbers of evangelical churches are pushing back their pews and their sanctuaries so they can practice yoga sometimes they call it Jesus yoga Yahweh yoga holy yoga and kids yoga praise moves yoga faith and Chris toga I'll give you the documentation of this in the next messages you know in spite of those blasphemous titles yoga as I said is it's the heart of Hinduism its goal is to yoke oneself with Brahman the highest reality and supreme deity of Hinduism of Eastern mysticism not just Hinduism yoga exercises positions and meditations are designed for achieving union with Brahman my best friend in the Lord who is you know who that he's not with the Lord Dave Hunt used to say that drugs are the elementary school of mysticism Eastern meditation is the Graduate School another form of Eastern religious practices and even more seductive for Christians is contemplative spirituality the idea is that we can draw closer in our communion with God through techniques drawn from the Desert Fathers they were the Catholic mystics of the fourth century who came up with ways they believed would help them experience God rather than getting to know him through the Bible in its doctrines their primary practice involved isolation meditation which led to an altered state of consciousness I'm talking about the Desert Fathers now unlike a Sun like a drug trip but far more powerful what that did was to open the door to demonization and demon possession well many of today's content older practices have added to what the Desert Fathers did and taught one example among many that I could give is the technique of lectio Divina that's Latin and it's translated divine reading but the reading part is misleading because it only uses words as devices to clear one's mind that often puts the practitioner into an altered state of consciousness so that he can communicate directly with God he believes so he thinks an example of this is how popular Christian speaker Tony Campolo applies lectio Divina he claims that when he wakes up in the morning he repeats the name of Jesus 200 times would you call that better communication with Jesus if you do let's consider this I wake up in the morning usually around 5:00 a.m. and pay up my heart my bride of 48 years is quietly softly snoring I mean breathing by my side so I begin my personal intimate communication with her Peggy Peggy hey Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy let me tell you the potential consequence of such communication a warm foot would undoubtedly find its way to my hip and I would find myself unceremoniously on the floor you tell him I mean so much of this stuff is it's heartbreaking but it's absurd it's literally absurd which is another part of the message tomorrow three well-known leaders of the contemplative spirituality are richard Foster Dallas Willard Beth Moore well the New Apostolic Reformation today three of the main leaders are see Peter Wagner Bill Johnson a Bethel Church in Redding which I said rod is gonna address Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer or IHOP and Kansas City and they're a primary objective of the New Apostolic Reformation is to assure in the kingdom of God through what they claim our new God ordained apostles and prophets they teach that God is pouring out a spirit in our day which will lead to as I mentioned before worldwide revival these teachings are greatly influencing our Christian youth and young adults especially through the music and lyrics of Jesus culture which was started at Bethel in Hillsong which Jesus culture was influenced by then that's out of Australia as that revival supposedly happens Christians will then take control of the world through leadership in spheres of influence such as government and education the media the arts and so on sounds great doesn't it I find none of that in Scripture but that's of no concern to the new apostolic leadership they claim that God is doing a new thing you're gonna hear a lot of that he's doing a new thing that overrides and transcends the written word of God they claim to be hearing from God directly remember the verses we read earlier from Matthew chapter 24 about the manifestation of false prophets and teachers Jesus did not want us to be deceived by them finally and practically right up to the hour regarding the latest influence that is deceiving the world and mostly the church well of late it's the movie The Shack which followed the book The Shack I went to the earliest matinee I could find which I usually do in reviewing movies with a religious bent particularly so-called biblical movies and I'm usually just one of a handful of people at such showings no matter how popular the movie might be not this time the shack audience filled more than a third of the room what happened at the end of the movie really stunned me the audience applauded why was I startled well as far as movies go it wasn't a particularly good movie nearly all the professional movies movie critics hated it for technical reasons not sure its spiritual content on the other hand I read that most Christian audiences loved it and it was being heavily supported by Christian audiences that concerned me even more why because the movie is a fictional story that presents theological beliefs that are diametrically opposed to what the Bible clearly teaches to call it heretical blasphemous and a mockery of our God would be putting it mildly well here are some examples if you decide that I'm making too big a deal of this after all as I've been told whoa Tom chill out you know it's just a movie the movie gives so-called insights about the Holy Trinity God the Father called Papa is presented as a portly black woman and the Holy Spirit is represented as a tall slender oriental lady the Jesus character is nice enough Jewish Jewish lad although not the biblical Jesus whereas in the shack The Shack book if you've went through that he's a bit of a southern redneck who laughs at Papa's crude jokes although God the Father and the Holy Spirit are never manifested in physical form in Scripture you find them in the movie dancing with each other to contemporary music if you're not fully familiar with the term blasphemy it doesn't just mean using the Lord's name in vain but more often it's describing God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit in ways that are not true to what the scripture says about them blasphemy fits Shaq the Shaq totally heresy is also a chief characteristic of the Shaq its main false doctrine is universalism the teaching that everyone gets saved everyone ends up in heaven if that's true which it isn't what's the point of the gospel folks this is not rocket theology this is not complex you know in second Thessalonians it says those who have not old God says those who have not a love of the truth he will send strong delusion that can happen to any of us that can happen to me if I isolate something in which okay here's my deal what do you read you think about this but thank you Jesus I got Bereans out here I got Bereans at the marine call staff well when asked in the movie about God's judgment and Azarath the Papa character sidestepped the question implying that he/she remember it's a woman but it's supposed to be God the Father he sidesteps the question implying that he doesn't know or she doesn't know what the question means so much for the book of Revelation in the great white throne Jasmine you see the movie and many of its contradictions claims that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were on the cross with Jesus paying for our sins Papa in the movie shows his or her nail prints this is God the Father showing in the Hell prints okay to prove that he or she was involved well seems that also that Papa God the Father broke one of his own laws Deuteronomy 22:5 says a man shall not put on a woman's garment you know the support for the Shack and Christendom would be scandalous if it weren't if we weren't aware that we are deep into the time of apostasy the endorsements came from multitudes of evangelical pastors and churches Campus Crusade many of the Christian music artists and celebrities charisma magazine in its crowd Focus on the Family Christian Broadcasting Network and the list goes on and on it really bummed me out that Tim Tebow I have so much respect for that guy amazing he thought the movie was great I can tell you movies are the most influential medium in the world today that was my business I know that medium they are emotionally driven vehicles manipulating audiences feelings as they persuade multi-millions to buy into what they're selling this is what I did as a screenwriter my job was to manipulate the the emotions of the audience get him to cry get him to laugh scare them give them a thrill whatever it might be it's entertainment well I've gone from the tip of the iceberg to the tip of the iceberg to the tip ups to the tip of the iceberg regarding some of the main deceptions that are infecting the body of Christ I don't know where you are related to some of the things that I mentioned but you can search our archives of our ministry online and I'm going to talk about some other things that we have and if you're here maybe for the first time you're not familiar with the ministry just google the brain call or Dave hunt some of you may be unwittingly have been involved in some of these beliefs and practices or you know those who are into them so speaking for myself and I'm very confident that I can speak for the rest of the speakers we just want you to be Bereans as it says in acts 17 first 10 they search the Scriptures daily what actually verse 11 I think to see whether these things were so scripture exhorts and encourages all of us to be like the Jews the Jews in the synagogue of the Greek city of Berea we are to discern what we're being taught no matter by whom but then search the Word of God to make sure it's found there and it's being taught in truth according to the scriptures most of the New Testament was written to correct errors that had come into the church and as I mentioned earlier the Word of God not only identified the errors it tells us how to correct them it tells us what we need to do for spiritual protection to that end I want to underscore just three things worth repeating so you're going to hear it again the three things I believe are critical in the day in which we live the days in which jesus warned us would be characterized as we read by spiritual deception remember take heed that no man deceive you here the three basic ingredients for preventing being deceived the Word of God prayer and fellowship the Lord has provided all these things that are necessary and they are empowered by the Holy Spirit and enabled through His grace for those who have put their faith in Him the preventive process against being spiritually duped again is not complex it does however demand a willing heart a love of the truth and the exercise of discipline avoiding being deceived and seduced by the apostasy must begin with the Word of God and our commitment to it meaning a consistence a consistent reading of the Bible daily there's no better habit for man woman of the child of God James gives us the primary exhortation for that James 4:7 submit yourselves therefore to God that must include submitting ourselves to God's instructions three things here we can't submit to instructions we haven't read or in submission involves doing what God has instructed submission also includes believing in the Bible sufficiency why is that critical well if we don't believe that its instructions are sufficient for all we need are for dealing with life in a way that is pleasing to God we look for other ways to solve our problems this is the Bible claim sufficiency absolutely well second Timothy 3:16 and 17 we all know the scripture all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works these expressions inspiration being profitable giving instructions in order to grow in maturity and being furnished equipped for every good work they certainly confirm sufficiency don't they Ephesians 2:10 spells out a major reason for God making his word sufficient for ever believer for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has for ordained that we should walk in them but here's the major verse as far as I'm concerned second Peter chapter 1 verse 3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things all things all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue all things that pertain to life and godliness all does mean all here scripture is referring to all that is necessary to please God and the things that we that have both temporal temporal and eternal value but far more eternal value to waton to whom should a believer in Christ turn to for that well therefore the daily habits and I mean habit of reading the Word of God by which we learn of its sufficiency for our growth and for our maturity for our fruitfulness and then doing doing what it says by gods and Abel meant all of that is necessary for protection against spiritual deception and that must be undergirded by point number two prayer prayer and everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God that's Philippians 4:6 hopefully we all realized that when the verse says everything it means everything however all of us who are born again have a friend in Jesus who is that the right hand of the Father praying for us I love to him what a friend we have in Jesus our sins all our sins and griefs to bear what a privilege to carry everything everything to him in prayer see Jesus demonstrated the intimate prayer relationship which we have with him and with God the Father in numerous ways he drew away from the crowds in order to commune with his father prayer according to the scripture is set forth as an imperative for the believer we are to pray without ceasing exceedingly night and day regarding whatever conditions beset us the simple reason that biblical prayer is so important is that we cannot do anything we cannot do anything that has eternal value except by God's grace and that is mostly received through prayer specific to spiritual protection were exhorted to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with the with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints again region 618 the Apostle Paul asked for prayer that we may be delivered from I'm quoting from unreasonable and wicked men there's protection declaring that the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 1 to 3 moreover and better yet we have Jesus that's incredible we have Jesus who prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail and who is now we're at the right hand of God doing what interceding for us I love Dave's line Wow Wow we also need brothers and sisters in Christ to pray with us that is the necessity of fellowship fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ's is a major part of the Lord's instructions given for our protection for our strengthening for our fruitfulness in the book of ecclesiastes we are told that those who disdain fellowship have put themselves in a weak and vulnerable position I'm quoting two are better than one for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow but woe to him who will order him that is alone when he falleth for yes not another to help him up and if one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken in queasy ask these chapter 4 verses 9 to 12 a believer who has no one to support him spiritually will find himself in trouble sooner or later when any of us gets knocked down spiritually we need a fellow believer to help us up mentally emotionally and most important spiritually as for those who declare I'll come on the bomb the Lord is all I need too often their subsequent thinking is out of line with God's Word Jesus said in Luke chapter 6 verse 46 and why call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say well we as believers need to circle the wagons now especially now and in the days ahead well our best option is a church fellowship supporting the leadership that is steadfast and staying the course of God's Word and especially serving the body when that's not an option we must ask the Lord to help us find other committed believers or a committed believer with whom we can pray with whom we might minister to one another encourage one another and with whom we can gather together for doctrinal discernment accountability accountability and spiritual fortification again if one prevail against him two shall withstand him in a three-fold cord is not quickly broken first and foremost that third strand must be the Lion of Judah the Lamb of God our Lord and Savior Jesus himself once again the word of God prayer and fellowship are the biblical keys it enabled by God's grace for the believers spiritual protection now I want to close with these additional scriptures I'm just going to read them that confirm the spiritual protection that God has for us wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand above all taking the shield of faith wherewith thee shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints that's Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13 and n 16 to 18 and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers that's Acts chapter 2 verse 42 now I mentioned that we have some things you know I've been involved with the brain call for 25 years as its executive director but it's Dave Hunt's legacy and I have been privileged to hang out with that guy for 40 years almost I think about his legacy in the Lord and we have lots of materials lots of things here and Mark Van der Ark who's our operations guy thank you Jesus for mark he came up with a concept of taking what we have and putting him into form it's called the Berean bytes and we've I think we put together three or four of them so take a look at it it's what the idea of it is to you know if a pastor or anybody has an issue I mean three things I have here Hebrew roots mysticism the emerging church a pastor or somebody says oh I know somebody who's into that is there something where I can get up to speed in it quickly and have some information at least the discuss of them but then it isn't just that we have that brief introduction to this which is fairly comprehensive but we also put people on to our radio programs onto all the archives that we have if somebody wants to go deeper and understand the material deeper so this if the Lord tarries this is our legacy and we want to make that available so it needs your prayers because that's where about I've already been blessed to talk to a number of pastors across the country and be able to send them some hey you say time but you know what can you tell me about this I got just the thing for you send it to them they can use it however they they choose so that's that let's pray Lord we are so wonderfully encouraged and blessed that you have not left us to our own devices you have spoken to to us through your word you have given us your instructions and better yet well not better yet but in addition to that you've given us your Holy Spirit to help us not only understand the things that you would have us understand you instruct us in those things Lord but you have enabled us to use that to your glory and to the benefit of others Lord continue to give us all that heart to be your witnesses of your grace of your mercy of your tender mercies and loving-kindnesses Lord and it's to this end that I pray for all of us and Jesus precious name amen amen [Applause] thank you Tom we now have a break until 10:30 we have coffee and tea still but this is your last chance to get coffee and tea after that it's bread and water we're like prisoners 10:30 see you back in here [Music] [Music]

Channel: The Berean Call

Views: 17,263

Rating: 4.8476191 out of 5

Keywords: Christian, Apostasy, T.A. McMahon, The Berean Call

Id: LJd36bkLD-o

Length: 63min 12sec (3792 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 25 2017