Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Authored By  :
Published On :
Last Updated :

NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.



I have read some convincing evidence from some of my
readers, which clearly indicates that some of these church
and fellowship leaders, and even certain television and
radio evangelists, have been set up like little gods. They
have become modern idols in the hearts of their followers;
and some, because of their own pride, do nothing to put a
stop to it. In fact, by their own superficial showmanship,
they are encouraging it. This is particularly true when we
think about some of these so-called Christian rock bands.
Similar to the Scribes and the Pharisees of old, these
people love the attention which is lavished upon them. What
we see happening in some of these churches, and at some of
these fellowships and concerts, is all a vain show in the
flesh, and blatant man worship, with very little real God
worship. Allow me to clarify, that there is nothing wrong
with looking up to certain Christian leaders as our
spiritual mentors, and striving to be like them. Even the
Apostle Paul wrote:

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."
1 Corinthians 11:1, KJV

We are all supposed to be good Christian examples to each
other. As Paul also advised us, we are to exhort one another
daily; we are to encourage each other in our faith and walk
with the Lord; however, what we see happening within some
Christian bodies today, is much more than this. We have men
who are becoming little gods in their churches by exercising
a certain spiritual authority which, in some cases, I am not
convinced is of the Lord. This appears to be particularly
true with certain of these so-called 'five-fold' ministries,
because it is my understanding that this is where a lot of
these spiritual manifestations are occurring. Some of these
men are taking their spiritual authority too far, and are
becoming lords over God's heritage, instead of being humble
examples to their flocks. Sadly, because of the deceptive
manifestations, which the unknowing flock accepts as being
signs from the Lord which confirm their leader's spiritual
authority, they allow these things to continue. The Apostle
Peter wrote:

"Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
ensamples to the flock." 1 Peter 5:3, KJV

To those of you who have unwittingly been caught up in these
things, allow me to ask you: How can you possibly even hear
the real Voice of the Lord amidst so much sights, sounds,
manifestations, and confusion? I am again reminded of the
Prophet Elijah's encounter with the Lord in the following
verses:

"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the
LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and
strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the
rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and
after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the
earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD
was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small
voice." 1 Kings 19:11,12, KJV

You see, God does not need or require all of the flashy
signs and show in the flesh. Perhaps that is what He was
trying to teach the Prophet Elijah. It is when all of that
has passed, and been done away with, that we can truly
commune with the Lord as the Prophet Elijah did on the
mount. In the article 'Famous Forties In The Bible', I
explain that Moses too had to get away from the noisy
multitude below, and all of its problems, by climbing to the
summit of Mount Sinai alone, in order to hear the still,
small Voice of the Lord, and receive His Commandments. In
like manner, following His Baptism, Jesus also spent forty
days in the wilderness, away from the crowds, communing with
His Father. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord
tells us that 'in quietness and in confidence shall be your
strength'. It is when we are quiet before the Lord, and
listening to His Voice, and when we place our confidence in
His Word, and not in the outward signs and wonders, that we
find true spiritual strength, and not just a temporary
'spiritual high' or thrill in the flesh which wears off
after a while.

Allow me to give you a clear example. On various occasions,
I have observed as young Christians have engaged in chat.
One thing which some of them seem to have in common, is that
they enjoy raving about their favorite Christian rock bands
and artists. They will tell each other what concerts they
have gone to, who is coming to town, how cool the band
looked and sounded, etc. It reminds me of when I was a lot
younger and used to engage in similar conversations with my
friends regardling worldly bands. Allow me to clarify that
there is absolutely nothing wrong with praising the Lord
through music and song. The Book of Psalms is filled with
the many heart-felt praises of King David, who offered his
joyful songs and prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord, as
well as his honest confessions and laments. Many Christians
have been blessed by the wonderful writings of the Jewish
king. Consider the following verses:

"<<To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm.>> Make a joyful
noise unto God, all ye lands:" Psalm 66:1, KJV

"<<To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of Asaph.>>
Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto
the God of Jacob." Psalm 81:1, KJV

"O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful
noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his
presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him
with psalms." Psalm 95:1,2, KJV

"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a
loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the LORD
with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With
trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the
LORD, the King." Psalm 98:4-6, KJV

"<<A Psalm of praise.>> Make a joyful noise unto the LORD,
all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his
presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it
is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his
people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates
with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be
thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good;
his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all
generations." Psalm 100:1-5, KJV

In like manner, some of the Christian music which fills the
airwaves today is indeed inspiring and uplifting; although
personally, I never really listen to any of it; partially
because I require a quiet environment in order to do my work
for the Lord, and also, because I do not like all of the
commercials and doctrinal programs which fill up the time
slots in between the good music. At the same time, I must
also tell you that after paying closer attention to some of
the song lyrics on some of the radio shows which are geared
towards young Christians, that is, when you can even hear
them through the 'music', I have to conclude that some of it
is not only a far cry from the beautiful Psalms of King
David, but it is downright unchristian. It is no better than
the hard rock, worldly music that I used to listen to as a
young teenager before I began to follow the Lord. It is a
deceptive mixture of Satanic noise, with the words 'Christ',
'Jesus', 'Lord', 'God', etc., lightly dispersed throughout
the song, in order to give it a somewhat 'Christian' flavor.

This so-called 'Christian rock' music reminds me of one of
those vanilla ice cream bars which you eat on a stick, which
has a thin chocolate covering on the outside. It appears to
be one thing, but you quickly discover that it is something
entirely different once you bite into it. It is truly sad,
because you see, just as some of their parents are being
deceived by the sights, sounds and thrills of all of these
so-called 'manifestations', which are being performed by the
ringleaders at their spiritual circuses, the children are
doing the very same thing when they attend these 'Christian'
rock concerts. Both parents and children are getting excited
and emotional in the flesh by these things, but it is all
just Satan's deceptive counterfeit. Once a person leaves the
Christian rock concert, or the fellowship filled with all of
these 'manifestations', the temporary thrill wears off; and
for the next six days, they live their ho-hum existence,
until they can go back for a refill when the next weekend
arrives. This is not what true Christianity is about.

In short, while my words may be offensive to some of you
reading this, the truth of the matter is that some of the
people who do these things, are merely going through the
outward motions of being Christians. Some of them have no
spiritual depth. They do not possess a true, deep, ongoing
relationship with the Lord, because their faith is not truly
founded upon His Word, but merely upon the outward show and
signs in the flesh. They are like a part of 'the fishes and
the loaves crowd'. Just as those people physically separated
themselves from Jesus once serious persecution arose against
Him, Satan has been so crafty in his modern techniques, that
he has also managed to spiritually divorce many Christians
from the Lord. He has left them with an outward appearance,
but no inward spiritual depth. It is really a relationship
in name only. You will recall that in part two, I shared the
following verse with you, in order to show you how we are
symbolically married to Jesus Christ, the Living Word of
God:

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should
bring forth fruit unto God." Romans 7:4, KJV

It is because some Christians are no longer married to Jesus
Christ, or at least they have become backslidden in their
relationship with Him, that they are not bearing spiritual
fruit for the Kingdom of God, as we saw in part two. Even in
His own day, the Lord exposed these two sins of spiritual
shallowness, and a divorce from His Word. You may recall
that in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Jesus said the
following:

"Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from
me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men." Matthew 15:7-9, KJV

"And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of
earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because
it had no root, it withered away." Mark 4:5,6, KJV

Notice exactly what the Lord says in that first verse. Why
is their worship vain? Because they have replaced the true
Word of God, with the doctrines of men. Bringing the Lord's
statement up to our current time, these false shepherds and
hirelings have replaced the Truth of the Scriptures with a
modern-day counterfeit; and sadly, all of these so-called
manifestations, like the gold fillings, are a clear part of
it! As I point out in other articles, such people are a part
of the 'Lord, Lord' crowd. They seem to do everything right
in the flesh, according to the appearance of men, but it is
all wrong; because as the Lord states in the previous verse,
and as I also explain in other articles, God looks upon the
heart, and not upon the outward showy appearance. This is
precisely what He told the Prophet Samuel when he was sent
by the Lord to anoint David as the next king of Israel:

"But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him:
for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7, KJV

As I have already made clear, it is because some Christians
have become divorced from the true Word of God, that they no
longer possess the means by which to rightly determine the
spiritual legitimacy of these various manifestations, which
have taken root in some of these churches and fellowships.
How can one truly understand God's Spirit, and how it is
supposed to operate, if he doesn't even take the time to
perform a careful examination of our Rule Book, the Bible,
and then compare these manifestations with it? Quite simply,
you just cannot do it. Once you throw out the Rule Book,
then anything becomes valid; everything is permissible and
acceptable. Isn't this precisely what we are now seeing in
some of these fellowships and churches where all of these
wild and dangerous things are occurring? These spiritual
children are so enthralled with playing with their toys,
that they don't even realize that the enemy of their soul
has thrown in some dangerous toys! They don't even realize
how far they have strayed from the true Spirit of God, and
the standard of His Word.

Just recently, I was involved in an in-depth conversation
with a dear friend of mine, in which I discussed this very
same topic. She explained to me how it is important that we
'experience God'. She then went on to give me a specific
example of an Easter pilgrimage she made recently to the top
of a local mountain. This was one of those traditional walks
up a steep, difficult trail, in which the participants feel
that they must suffer for their sins, by getting scratched,
falling down, bleeding, etc. It is supposed to be a form of
Catholic penance. Many of us are familiar with such Catholic
traditions, and know how totally unnecessary they are. We
all know that Jesus Christ already suffered for us, the just
for the unjust; and even my friend readily admitted this:

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:"
1 Peter 3:18, KJV

My friend then described how close she felt to the Lord as
she breathed in the clean mountaintop air, and admired the
wonderful panoramic view. I think this is absolutely
wonderful. There have been many times when I too have been
to a certain place, and have been so inspired to just gaze
at the Lord's natural creation. It is truly an invigorating
experience. It is like recharging our spiritual battery as
we draw in the Lord's wonders around us. Even the Apostle
Paul tells us how the natural world is clear proof of God's
existence; and thus, not even the most hardened atheist has
a legitimate excuse for not believing in the Lord:

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse:" Romans 1:20, KJV

But you see, there is also a very serious danger in desiring
to experience God with our five senses; and we are clearly
seeing the result of this in our modern day through these
various false and deceptive manifestations. We simply cannot
place the thrill of experiencing God in our flesh, above the
Rules He has given us, which tell us how we are supposed to
experience Him. This is where all of these deceived people
fall into error. They have either placed their experiences
above the Word, by ignoring its warnings, or else they have
tried to justify their experiences by the Word, by twisting
the meanings of certain Scriptures found in the Bible. I
provide an excellent example of this in the series 'Have You
Been Slain In The Spirit?'. I hope that you will find time
to read it.

As I explain in some of the aforementioned articles, this
need to see supernatural manifestations, and to experience
God with one's physical senses in order to encourage one's
faith, is nothing new. Of course, the unbelievers also seek
for signs, but they do it mockingly, as a way to add weight
to their deceptive lie, when they say that God does not
exist, or that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God who died
for the sins of the world. A reading of the four Gospels
plainly reveals that Jesus' unbelieving Jewish enemies were
notorious for possessing this very same attitude. They were
plagued by what we might refer to as the 'If Syndrome';
which was inspired by the very father of lies, Satan
himself. Consider the following verses which prove this
point:

"And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the
Son of God, command that these stones be made bread."
Matthew 4:3, KJV

"And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge
concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up,
lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone."
Matthew 4:6, KJV

"And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest
it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God,
come down from the cross." Matthew 27:40, KJV

"And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save
thyself..."And one of the malefactors which were hanged
railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and
us." Luke 23:37, 39, KJV

"Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How
long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell
us plainly." John 10:24, KJV

"Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross,
that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified
with him reviled him." Mark 15:32, KJV

While God's rules are that we must believe in order that we
might see His miraculous works, Satan's rules are the exact
opposite. His children must see before they will believe; as
we see in that last verse from the Gospel of Mark where the
scoffing Jews say 'that we may see and believe'. In other
words, using an American slang term, they place the buggy,
or carriage, before the horse; which is rather ridiculous.
This very same twisted perception is exposed for us in the
following verses as well:

"Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders,
ye will not believe." John 4:48, KJV

"They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then,
that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?"
John 6:30, KJV

In the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John, where Jesus
raises His good friend Lazarus from the dead, we find the
Lord clearly telling a saddened and unbelieving Martha that
she must place her faith before her sight, before what her
physical senses are telling her, if she truly wishes to
behold the miracles of God. How much like Martha are many of
us today. Some of us want so hard to witness the mighty
healing power of the Lord in our lives, but alas, it appears
that either our faith simply is not sufficient, or perhaps
the Lord has other plans for us. I discuss this topic more
fully in the article 'Why Doesn't God Heal Me?:

"Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of
him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he
stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto
her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the glory of God?" John 11:39,40, KJV

Of course, Martha was not the only one who was plagued with
unbelief. In other articles, I also discuss the story of the
man whom we have all come to know as 'Doubting Thomas'. I
can only wonder how Thomas must feel to know that his name,
and the unbelief associated with it, has become a common
byword in our modern day. After Thomas had made his famous
statements in which he demanded physical proof of the Lord's
Resurrection, we all know that Jesus made another appearance
during which He said to Thomas:

"...Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
John 20:29b, KJV

Notice again that Thomas had to see in order to believe,
while the Lord corrects him, and us, by saying that even if
we never see a single miracle, or a single manifestation, or
anything at all with our physical senses, we must still
believe; and if we do, then we are truly blessed; because
this is true faith of gold. It is the kind of faith which
will not perish in the fire, because it is a pure solid
faith which is built upon the Word of God, and not upon any
physical signs and wonders; particularly not upon the false
lying wonders of the Endtime which we are all witnessing in
our current day. This is the kind of faith which pleases
God. Please consider the following verses:

"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:10, KJV

"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold
is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:
I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is
my God." Zechariah 13:9, KJV

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than
of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ:" 1 Peter 1:7, KJV

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that
thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
Revelation 3:18, KJV

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Hebrews 11:6, KJV

Before concluding this series, allow me to address one more
issue which is directly related to all of the points which
I have already discussed. In his Epistle to the Hebrews,
the Apostle Paul wrote in part:

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
Hebrews 10:38, KJV

What exactly does Paul mean by the term 'draw back'? This
phrase is derived from the Greek word 'hupostello',
pronounced hoop-os-tel'-lo, which my Greek lexicon defines
as follows:

----- Begin Quote -----

1) to draw back, let down, lower
1a) to withdraw: of a timid person
2) to withdraw one's self, i.e. to be timid, to cover, shrink
2a) of those who from timidity hesitate to avow what they
believe
2b) to be unwilling to utter from fear
2c) to shrink from declaring, to conceal, dissemble

----- End Quote -----

In other words, when Paul talks about drawing back, he is
referring to those who are afraid to stand up for their faith.
They are afraid of what others will think of them, so they
cowardly keep quiet about their faith in Jesus Christ. As we
saw in part two, this is something which we should not do;
because if we are ashamed of the Lord, and of our faith in
Him, He will also be ashamed of us at His Return. Instead,
we must boldly confess with our mouths, our faith in the
Lord Jesus. Consider the following verses:

"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words
in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall
the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of
his Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38, KJV

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had
been with Jesus...And now, Lord, behold their threatenings:
and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may
speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and
that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy
child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken
where they were assembled together; and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with
boldness." Acts 4:13, 29-31, KJV

"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We
ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29, KJV

"But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and
declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and
that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at
Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming
in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians:
but they went about to slay him." Acts 9:27-29, KJV

"Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord,
which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted
signs and wonders to be done by their hands."
Acts 14:3, KJV

"And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when
Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and
expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly."
Acts 18:26, KJV

"And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the
space of three months, disputing and persuading the things
concerning the kingdom of God." Acts 19:8, KJV

"According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in
nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as
always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether it be by life, or by death."
Philippians 1:20, KJV

"And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may
open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the
gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein
I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."
Ephesians 6:19,20, KJV

"So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I
will not fear what man shall do unto me."
Hebrews 13:6, KJV

However, as I was pondering that previous verse from Paul's
Epistle to the Hebrews, I realized that this drawing back
from our faith is not something which happens overnight. I
point out in other articles how Satan will work on us for a
long time. He will chip away at our faith a little at a time
with his lies, doubts and deceptions. Do you realize that
one way in which he might do this, is by tricking us into
transferring our faith in the Word of God alone, to faith in
the lying signs and wonders? Can you honestly see how subtle
this is? In other words, the minute we begin to place more
emphasis on the manifestations, and on wanting to experience
God with our five senses, we have begun to draw back in our
faith. We are no longer walking by pure faith as Paul tells
us to do; we have begun to walk by sight; and unless the
Lord shakes us up in His mercy, we may end up backsliding
all the way! It doesn't seem that way at first, does it? It
seems so innocent, but the end result is total dependence
upon the signs and the wonders in order to maintain our
faith, or possibly before we will even begin to believe;
just like those antichrist Jews!

So what about you? Where is your faith? What is it founded
upon? Is your faith a faith of gold; or do you require some
kind of spiritual crutch like these false signs and wonders
which have become rooted in some of the Lord's Body? When
you do encounter these manifestations, such as these latest
reported incidents involving gold fillings and gold dust, do
you carefully measure them against God's Holy Word to see if
there is a Scriptural precedent for them, or do you weakly
compromise your faith, blindly follow the excitement and the
crowd, and accept the words of the false prophets as being
true? Are you bewitched by these modern sorcerers who have
crept into the Lord's churches? Do you too exclaim 'This man
is the great power of God!'? I certainly hope not! If you
have in the past, I truly hope that this series will wake
you up, and shake you up, and get you back on the right
spiritual track for the Lord! As in all of my articles, I
have strived to do my best to give you the straight truth as
it is found in God's Word. I truly hope that you will accept
it.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.