On the basis of the Biblical evidence these movements have focussed on the gifts of the Spirit found in 1 Corinthians 12-14 etc., and elevated their counterfeit 'signs and wonders' to a place of central importance.  'Signs and wonders' are part of the Christian Biblical heritage and there is no way we should forget the exhortation of Paul to seek the greater gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31), but to elevate them to what is central is to lose the central focus of our message which is always the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel, or at least to obscure both!

Undoubtedly one of the paradigms of freeing people in the New Testament is healing. But the modern propensity to speak of virtually every act of transformation as a 'healing' tends to squeeze out other paradigms - freeing people from the slavery of sin, forgiving debts, bringing them into new birth and life, and much more.  Above all, these models are all tied in the New Testament to the cross.  It is virtually impossible to imagine a Vineyard or 'Word-Faith' preacher saying, with Paul:  'I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified' (1 Corinthians 2:2).  Indeed, in scores of their public meetings, where checks have been made as to the place given to the cross (in hymns, songs, prayers, and preaching), this element, which is so foundational to New Testament Christianity, scarcely registers on the scale of what is important - even though, no doubt, no supporter of 'Word-Faith'/Wimber etc. would openly disown its importance.

Although these movements acknowledge the existence of the Biblical passages that warn against false 'signs and wonders', and sometimes mention the Scriptural tests that distinguish between the true and the false, they fail to accurately consider the different varieties of falseness. The choice, as has been shown, is not always between the divine and the demonic. There can be genuine 'signs and wonders' pursued by thoroughly corrupt teachers with matching motives - and there can be 'signs and wonders' which are allowed by God but designed to test our faithfulness (Deuteronomy 13:1ff.). Above all, Biblical warnings against the deceptiveness of some 'signs and wonders' must be taken more seriously.

Among the tests to be applied (certainly not an exhaustive list) are these:

1. Do these displays of power give glory to God or to people (cf. John 7:18; 8:50; 17:4)?  Anyone watching the stage 'performances' of the average 'Word-Faith' teacher will quickly work out that the exaltation of leaders occurs to a dangerous degree.
   
2. Do those involved display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25)?  Do they walk in the way of love (cf. 1 Corinthians 13)?  See the words of the leaders when they are challenged to prove their claims; the genuine power of God ultimately transforms us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
   
3. Do those involved in these displays of power clearly submit to the Lordship of Christ (James 2:14-19; 1 John 2:3-5; 5:3)?  Obviously they profess Christ, but their lack of  obedience to His Word cannot lie (Matthew 7:21-23).
   
4. Do their displays of 'power' edify others and foster the unity of the church (1 Corinthians 12-14)?  Do not apply this test simplistically: divisions sometimes occur for valid reasons, as Paul explains (1 Corinthians 11:19), but the New Testament holds the unity of the church in high regard.  It is very noticeable that supposedly charismatic 'super churches' grow by sucking immature believers from 'weaker' churches.  The projection of an image of spiritual superiority, of an inner ring, is potentially destructive of both love and sound doctrine.
   
5. Do these displays of 'power' drive people to the Jesus of the gospel, to Jesus crucified, risen, exalted?  Or is the Jesus who is praised 'another Jesus', one largely detached from the gospel? Do people in the movement expect men and women to be transformed by the message of the cross or by powerful signs?  (1 Corinthians 1:18 - 2:5). How do the public meetings of the movement display the commitments of the leaders in this regard?
   

What does Scripture warn us of?  Not of those who 'cause division' - as so many heretics accuse in their sad attempts to divert the truth away from themselves by misquoting Scripture. Our complaint against the 'Word-Faith'/Vineyard movements majors on doctrines - their teachings. They are either true or false. A true doctrine cannot be divisive in a harmful way, for that characteristic applies only to false teachings, as Scripture makes clear when quoted fully:

'Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them' (Romans 16:17 & 2:8-9).

Divisions are caused when you stand for the truth!  Jesus, who is the Truth, can only be known in truth by those who seek the truth (John 14:6; 18:37; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Deuteronomy 4:29). Christ himself caused division (Matthew 10:35; John 7:35, 43; 9:16; 10:19) - division between truth and error (Luke 12:51). If there is division in the body it is caused by some following the truth and others rejecting the truth of doctrinal teaching, while those whose behaviour reflects their rejection of the truth will show this in their rejection of members of the body (1 Corinthians 12:24-26):

24 But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, 25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Paul was inspired to write (1 Corinthians 11:19):

For there must [or 'have to be' - NIV] also be factions among you, in order that those who are approved may have become evident among you.

Because people from every walk of 'Christian' life today are fellowshipping together, does this lead to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ being spread abroad as never before - or at least in ways comparable to the past centuries?

Among today's Protestants (especially 'Charismatics') there is a growing spirit of ecumenism which embraces as 'brothers in the faith' anyone who 'speaks in tongues,' without regard to their false doctrines and practices. At large charismatic 'unity' conferences many participants, and a significant number of leaders, are Catholics - and the call for 'unity' is not on the basis of the true faith once for all delivered to the saints, but 'signs and wonders' and an agreement not to question one another's doctrine.  These 'Conferences on the Holy Spirit' result in a historic rejection of the Reformation and the issues for which millions gave their lives!  How is it that eternal truths for which the martyrs died can be set aside as though of no importance, while a substitute, counterfeit, 'positive' gospel of prosperity or self-esteem can grow so rapidly in acceptance?  In many respects the Protestant church today appears to be in worse condition than the Catholic Church of Luther's day.

So it was with those in Jerusalem (John 2:23-25) who 'believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did.'  They believed He was the Messiah but had a false view of what that meant. 'Jesus did not commit himself unto them' because He knew what was in their hearts and that they would not believe the truth. We see the same error from those in John 6, who, because Christ had healed and fed them, wanted to 'take him by force to make him [their] king' (John  6:15). There were many who called themselves His 'disciples' (today they would be called 'Christians') who had a false view of the Messiah, and when He tried to explain the truth to them, would not hear it but 'went back and walked no more with him' (John 6:66).  We learn from Christ how to handle the multitudes who want to follow Him for the wrong reasons. We must do today what He did then.  Many came 'forward' to tell Jesus they believed in Him and would follow Him faithfully, but what was this gospel that He preached:  'The foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but I have nowhere to lay my head' (Matthew 8:20).  How different this is from the mansions coveted by so many leaders of the contemporary Charismatic movement.  Today we fill the churches with multitudes who imagine that Christ's mission is to make them feel good about themselves by building up their self-esteem, answering their selfish prayers and fulfilling their self-centred agendas.  The Reconstruction/Kingdom/Dominionists are more confused than John the Baptist, though their error is similar. They refuse to walk in the rejection of Christ, bearing the reproach of His cross, because that would be 'defeatism.' They imagine we're in the millennial kingdom already and are supposed to act like 'King's kids.'  They think it is our task to establish that Kingdom through taking 'dominion' over the media, educational institutions and political leadership. The 'signs and wonders' promoters, from Oral Roberts to the late John Wimber, imagine they are in the process of taking dominion over all disease and even over death itself without the resurrection and return of Christ.  It is all very positive and ecumenical - and death-dealing!  Christian lobbyists such as Bob Grant of Christian Voice and the American Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C. are willing to work with Moonies and Mormons and all others who are in favour of bringing traditional values back to America.  In defence of such folly, Christian leaders stoutly defend the correctness of working with all those 'who call Jesus Lord.'  They seem to forget that Christ said:  'Many will say to me ... Lord, Lord, have we not ...in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you:  depart from me...' (Matthew 7:22-23). There are multitudes, such as Mormons and Catholics (to say nothing of many Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, et al) who call Jesus 'Lord' but are not saved. 

It is not many years since Paul and Jan Crouch welcomed three Catholics to their 'Praise the Lord' programme - two priests and a woman lay leader.  Paul Crouch displayed his usual naiveté and incredible ignorance of theology by smoothing over any differences between Protestants and Catholics as 'simply matters of semantics.'  In his eager embrace of Transubstantiation, a heresy so great that thousands died at the stake rather than accept it, he declared: 'Well, we [Protestants] believe the same thing. So you see one of these things that has divided us all of these years [Transubstantiation] shouldn't have divided us all along because we were really meaning the same thing but just saying it a little differently ... I[am] eradicating the word 'Protestant' even out of my vocabulary. ... I'm not protesting anything anymore ... it is ... time for Catholics and non-Catholics to come together as one in the Spirit and one in the Lord.'  Sadly, he is ignorant of the false gospel of Catholicism - 'another gospel' (Galatians 1:6-9) of salvation by works and ritual through the essential mediation of the Cult of Rome.  Let us remember what Christ said to those who believed on Him: 'If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free' (John 8:31-32).  It is that truth which we are called upon to proclaim in clarity and power.

What happened to the 'Third Wave Prophets' who arrived with a flood of 'new revelations'?  The 'Latter Rain' movement (a revival of an old heresy) rekindled with astonishing speed in association with the Vineyards and Kansas City Fellowship under the influence of 'prophets' such as John Wimber, Paul Cain (former associate of William Branham), Rick Joyner, Mike Bickle and others.  These men joined Hinn and Kenneth Copeland in their threats towards those who refused to be duped by their lying 'signs and wonders'.  Copeland strongly implied that those who resist God's 'move' could be making a fatal mistake:

"One of these days, you may just be talking to someone, asking them how my sin caused Christ to pay such a great price.  The shedding of Christ's blood, with which we were redeemed, was not because things went at church last Sunday, and they may say, 'Oh it was great! The glory of God was so strong it healed ten cripples, opened the ears of thirty deaf people, cured seven cases of cancer and killed Brother Bigmouth and Sister Strife'.... When the fire of God begins to burn and the rivers of the Spirit start to flow...he'll either have to yield to the Spirit ...or he'll have to resist the flood of God's Spirit and be swept away"  (Voice of Victory, Oct 94).

Strange how often 'Word-Faith' heretics desire the death of those who do not go along with their heresies and dare to point out their blatant errors?  A very different spirit from that demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ who rebuked those who expressed that kind of threat to those who did not accept them (Luke 9:54).

Heretic Paul Cain's roots go back to the origins of the Latter Rain movement which was referred to as: 'The last great outpouring that was to consummate God's plans on this earth.'  As a 'prophet' of the Kansas City Fellowship/Vineyard prophetic movement,  he issued the body of Christ this warning:

'Don't speak a word against signs and wonders and the prophetic ministry in these last days or God's zeal will chasten you!' (Christ for the Nations, Sept 89).

Rick Joyner, another advocate of 'what the Holy Spirit is doing today,' added his 'prophetic' challenge:

If the leaders resist this move the Lord will continue it through the congregations. These groups will begin to relate to the other members of the body of Christ and their bonds will grow stronger, regardless of the resistance or warnings of their pastors. Some pastors and leaders who continue to resist this tide of unity will be removed from their place....Some that were used greatly of God in the past have become too rigid in doctrinal emphasis ... to participate in this revival. ...Those who are linked together by doctrine ... will quickly be torn away (Restoration, May/ June 88).

In Vengeance is Ours, by Al Dager of Media Spotlight, he documented the false teaching that those who criticize or oppose the 'New Wave' of God's Spirit are either possessed or oppressed by a 'Jezebel spirit,' or are into witchcraft.  He quoted Rick Joyner: 

This is the year when the Lord starts to bring down the spirit of Jezebel. He will begin by calling her to repentance. Those who have become vessels for this spirit, and who do not repent, will be displayed as so insane that even the most immature Christians will quickly discern their sickness. ... The source of witchcraft against us may not be the obvious satanic cults or New Age operatives. It can come from well meaning, though deceived, Christians who are praying against us instead of for us (p149-150)

Rodney Howard-Browne gave this 'prophecy' at New Life Centre:

'Do not compromise. For if you compromise, you shall not only lose the anointing that I placed upon you, you shall lose your life.' 

These are only a few of the many indications that there is a very disturbing side to what John Wimber called 'a refreshing' or 'a renewal.'

Increasing numbers of churches submitted themselves to these 'prophets' in a rapidly growing discipleship movement based upon 'signs and wonders' which brought back dangerous heresies in the name of holiness and unity.  In a dream, Paul Cain supposedly saw God put His Spirit upon President Clinton and change him into another man - just as He did Saul of old!  An entire issue of Rick Joyner's The Morning Star Prophetic Bulletin was dedicated to this 'prophecy.' It was revealed to Cain that God had chosen Clinton to lead the United States into a new spiritual dimension, provided Christians pray for him. The future headlines of five specific newspapers were allegedly given in the dream to validate it.  Does that mean the prophecy is from God?  Obviously not!  Even false prophets (Paul Cain has made many false prophecies) can make some correct predictions (Deuteronomy 13:1-3).  Cain's mentor -  'prophet/healer/miracle worker' William Branham  - was declared a heretic by the Assemblies of God over 40 years ago, yet was a forerunner of Hagin/Copeland/Hinn and the whole 'Word-Faith' and healing movements.  In spite of Branham's numerous and serious heresies, Cain praised Branham as 'the greatest prophet of the twentieth  century.'  In fact, Cain, like Wimber and other 'prophets' associated with the Vineyard movement, continued to teach the Branham/Manifest Sons heresy that a 'new breed' of overcomers known as 'Joel's Army' would attain immortality without the resurrection or Rapture and, because no one can kill them, will virtually take over the world.  Cain's testimony of numerous childhood spirit visitations and miraculous powers sound clearly occultic.  This supposed latest vision had a built-in escape clause: it would happen only 'if the church prays for it.'  If it fails, the church's lack of prayer, instead of the 'prophet,' could be blamed!  Again, the 'Emperor's New Clothes' scam!  Rather than coming from God, the dream attempted to further the Manifest Sons delusion promoted by Cain and other 'prophets' that we are on the verge of the great 'last-days revival.'  Empowered to perform signs and wonders such as the world has never seen, the 'new breed/ Joel's Army' will supposedly convert entire nations.  Clinton was to be one of the generals in Joel's Army!  Apparently even John Wimber became disillusioned with such prophecies, which he had earlier embraced wholeheartedly.  Wimber and his team of 'prophets' descended upon England, for the October 1990 Docklands Conference, and had been preceded by a false Paul Cain prophecy of great revival in England.  Convinced that the revival would spread from the conference across Europe, Wimber declared: 'As Jesus went into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, so He will return on the back of a victorious church. One in the eye for any dispensationalists among us!'  This sad Scripture twisting came to nothing - of course!  Wimber brought his four children to experience this great outpouring of the Spirit, but nothing of note happened - as usual.  Wimber then broke his ties with Paul Cain, whom, for several years, he had regarded as God's special prophet to the Vineyard movement.  Linking Clinton to Saul's being changed into another man (1 Samuel 10:6) hardly fitted the prediction that God's Spirit would empower Clinton to lead the country into blessing. Saul, in fact, though changed for a time by God's power, proved to be self-willed and disobedient and eventually led Israel into disaster.  Interestingly, the New Age magazine Mind, Body, Spirit also contained a prophecy promising spiritual leadership from President Clinton at about the same time - but this 'prophecy' was clearly 'channelled' by Seth, a demonic entity long active in occultic circles.  The world certainly knows now where Clinton's leadership led.  After these false prophecies of Cain, which never happened, we have heard little of these men since (and nothing good!).  Thank God!

Most Christians are probably unaware of Diane Sawyer's 'Primetime Live' exposé of three popular televangelists:  W. V. Grant, Larry Lea and Robert Tilton.  At the time, Tilton was taking at least $80 million a year by promising health and wealth to those who give to him. It is a sad day when the secular media accuses leading evangelicals of deliberate deception and seemingly documents the charges, thereby bringing reproach upon the gospel and our Lord.  Why are millions of Christians so gullible as to support almost anyone who offers healing and prosperity, even though the promises are obviously un-Biblical, extravagant and almost always fail?  Where are the church leaders who should be protecting the flock by specific warnings against false teachers and false 'miracle workers'?  Why don't highly respected evangelical leaders bring desperately needed correction to their own ranks?  One is reminded of televangelist healer Peter Popoff, who was such an obvious deceiver that it was embarrassing to watch him - yet church leaders allowed him to defraud the flock and bring reproach upon Christ. It was the atheistic humanists who exposed him years ago: magician James Randi, Paul Kurtz, et al.  Popoff claimed 'revelations from God' enabled him to call out names, addresses, and ailments of those in his audience. In fact, his wife, Elizabeth, who circulated among the audience before the meetings gathering information, later broadcast the data at 39.17 Mhz. from the announcers' booths overlooking the various auditoriums into a sophisticated electronic device concealed in Popoff's ear.  Randi and his team recorded the proof - and the evidence is now available on video.  For example, in February 1986, at a crusade in San Francisco's Coliseum, when Peter Popoff made his grand entrance on stage amid shouted hallelujahs, Mrs. Popoff tested the equipment with these words: 'Hello, Petey. Can you hear me? If you can't, you're in trouble. I'm looking up names, right now.'  During the 'healings' the flow of data into Popoff's ear went like this:  'She should be there on your right side. Right side. In the blue. She lives at 4267 Masterson, and she's praying for her daughter Joy, who's allergic to food.'  Following these directions, laughter was heard coming from Elizabeth and Pam, the wife of Popoff's assistant Redford Shirrell - as Popoff repeated this information to the victim, pretending it was 'revealed' to him by God.  Popoff should have been exposed and denounced by church leaders, but he wasn't!  Even after he'd been unmasked by humanists as a deliberate fraud, Charisma carried his full-page ad, and deceived Christians continued to send this 'man of God' their support!

W. V. Grant followed a similar scam, calling out names, diseases and other details pertaining to specific individuals of whom he denied having prior knowledge, claiming to receive this information from God.  In fact, he also used an old trick of gathering and memorizing data beforehand that he later presented as 'revelation knowledge.' Grant was also exposed years ago by Randi, Kurtz and their team. Yet Christian leaders continued to honour him.  The irrefutable evidence that W.V. Grant, like Popoff, was operating a deliberate scam was first presented in two editions of the humanist magazine Free Inquiry, Spring and Summer, 1986.  They followed up people whom Grant claimed to have healed, only to find that no healing had taken place. Actors whom they planted in the audience were 'healed' of make-believe ailments.  Phony information which they had fed to Grant or his associates before the meeting was called out by Grant as 'revelation from God.'  Grant even brought wheelchairs with him in which his ushers persuaded the elderly who were tired of walking to sit, on the promise of being wheeled down close to the front. It is these people who were dramatically called out of 'their wheelchairs' and made to run up and down as proof of their 'healing'!  Those who actually came in their own wheelchairs left in the same manner, wondering why they weren't healed when so many others apparently were!  Those on Grant's mailing list received the most outrageous letters telling how he had prayed for them individually (the computer inserted their names to make it appear like a personal letter) and offered methods of receiving a blessing that involved witchcraft-like rituals which are an insult to God.  For example, one mailing included a large picture of 'Jesus' holding out his hands by a window, with the instructions to 'Touch my hands - I will touch yours' (supposedly based on Malachi 3:10), and claiming that this 'Jesus' promised:  'I will ... open you the 'windows of heaven'. ... Lay any unpaid bills and your wallet on these Nail Scarred hands of Jesus.'  Everything must be returned with the largest offering possible, of course.  Grant then took the offering 'to a certain window that the Lord is showing me, as I lay my hands where you lay yours.'  Always a condition for receiving the 'blessing' is the 'seed faith offering' the un-Scriptural invention of Oral Roberts which is used by many other 'evangelists,' such as Marilyn Hickey, to persuade the gullible to give in order to reap 100-fold. 

These are such obvious frauds, but when the real Anti-Christ comes with powerful lying 'signs and wonders' (2 Thessalonians 2:9), will these gullible people heed God's warning (Deuteronomy 13:1-3) that He allows false prophets to work 'signs and wonders' as a test to see 'whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul'?  We already live in a time of such testing and only staying close to the Word of God will keep us close to the God of the Word and keep us from apostasy.

Where did these errors originate?  Consider another aspect of Benny Hinn's deception:  'If you want a healing tonight for your finances you get to that phone now and say I want to make a pledge and I want Benny Hinn to pray that God will break the 'devil of poverty' over my life ... get to the phones now ... the quicker you do it the quicker your miracle comes. ...In the mighty name of Jesus we come against the 'devil of poverty' in your life ... !'  A lesser-known TV evangelist promises, 'the power of the 'spirit of debt' will be broken in your life ... a supernatural power to get wealth will be loosed into your hands.'  Neither diligence, prudence, a new job nor any other practical solution is needed. One needs simply to rebuke and bind the right 'demon' and money will flow into one's pockets.  It does not seem to matter to them that there is no Scriptural precedent of 'demons' or 'spirits' having this power over the Christian's finances, or other matters!  How devastating it is to the faith of those in a church where week after week the pastor and elders, in the name of Jesus, command healings that don't occur!  We have watched these fraudsters command the Word of God to go out and heal all illness and financial lack in their audience.  No Bible-believing Christian seriously thought it would happen - and it didn't!  Such empty bravado can only please Satan and makes a mockery of God's Word!  Yes, God still heals in answer to prayer, as He wills, but what audacity to command Him to do so! It is equally harmful to attempt to overcome sin with un-Biblical 'spiritual warfare' techniques.  Of course, it's easier on the flesh, and the 'in' thing, to blame a demon rather than oneself.  What the Bible calls the 'works of the flesh' are being blamed on demons.  The 'demon of lust' or the 'demon of sex' or the 'demon of pride' has been cast out literally thousands of times from thousands of Christians.  This grievous error denies Christ's indwelling, relieves the Christian of his own responsibility - and robs him of God's remedy!  Fraudulent exorcisms seem to support the belief that genuine, walking by the Word and in the Spirit, Christians can be demonized and that victory over sin requires exorcism - but Scripture denies it.  To those who 'believed on him,' Jesus said, 'If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free' (John 8:31-32).  Instead, they resisted the truth and tried to stone Him!  They 'believed' that Jesus was the Messiah - but they also had an un-Biblical concept of a Messiah who would conquer the Romans - and let them live in peace and prosperity.  They refused to accept Him as their deliverer from the real enemy - self and sin within.

John Wimber's 'Power Evangelism' requires 'signs and wonders' for sinners to believe the gospel.  Yet Romans 1:16 assures us that 'the gospel [itself] is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth [it].' Paul declared, 'It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe' (1 Corinthians 1:21).  But the argument is that the gospel has lost its power to convert modern man and needs help not only from 'signs and wonders,' but demons, which supposedly afflict a large number of those seeking to come to Christ, must be bound as well.  John Dawson writes, 'We need to overcome the enemy [Satan] before we employ other methods of ministry. . .'  One of the most tragic examples of how this teaching corrupts the gospel is exemplified in Jack Deere, for 12 years on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary before he took the position of leading theologian in Wimber's Vineyard movement. He was interviewed by Graham Banister in Sydney, Australia, at a Spiritual Warfare Conference taught by Wimber and his team to 5,500 church leaders who each paid $150 to attend. Banister asked Deere how he would define the gospel, and was told, 'I'm not sure.' Banister goes on to relate that he was 'somewhat' stunned, and said, 'I find that quite surprising - that you're not sure what the gospel is.' He replied, 'I used to be just like you...thinking the gospel was simply justification by faith.' I responded, 'Are you saying it's more than that?...What would you add to it?'  'Deliverance,' he said, '...things like demons and healing.'  I said, 'You would add as an essential part of the gospel...the exorcising of demons and healing?' He nodded. I continued, '... like what John Wimber was saying last night...?'  'Yes,' he said.  'But you're not sure exactly what should be included?' I asked. 'No,' he said, 'not yet.'  'Would it be fair to say' l asked, 'that you're in a state of flux since you joined the Wimber thing?'  He responded, 'We're always in a state of flux....'  'But on the gospel message?' I asked:  '...you couldn't go back into that pavilion and tell those people the gospel?'  He replied, 'No - not yet.'  I responded, 'When do you think you could do it?'  And he said, 'Maybe five years, maybe ten....'  It is incredible to learn that one of the leading minds, if not the leading theological mind in the 'Signs and Wonders Movement', did not know what the gospel was!  Yet the gospel is the key to new life and victory!  Believing the gospel, that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), sets us free from all that once bound us.  We are to 'stand' (in Christ's victory) and to 'resist,' not attack, rebuke or bind Satan. We have no fear of him. Greater is He (the Lord) who is in us than he (Satan) who is in the world (1 John 4:4).  Because we are 'crucified with Christ,' (and only because of that) Satan and his demons have no power over us. Christ has become our life.  We need to stop struggling to live the Christian life, and trust Him to live His life through us in obedience to His Word!  Christ neither 'rebuked' nor 'bound' Satan when tempted by him.  He resisted him with the sword of the Spirit as clearly stated in Scripture, by saying: 'It is written.'  We must do the same.  The Word of God doesn't become effective in our lives by merely speaking it forth as a 'positive confession.'  It must be understood, believed and obeyed in the power of the Spirit.  It is the truth ('Thy Word is truth') that sets us free and keeps us free from the world, the flesh and the devil. And whom the Son sets free is 'free indeed' (John 8:36)!

John Wimber's 'signs and wonders' movement has long been a source of many of the heresies which have plagued the contemporary church.  The encouragement towards experiential, emotional, even physical, 'encounters with God' is central to Vineyard ministry and has led to the error of putting the 'authority of experiences' above the 'authority of Scripture'.  Many are slipping into experience-driven spirituality through their involvement in various forms of psychotherapy, failing to recognize that the psychologically influenced programmes in their own fellowships have a common experiential base. Furthermore, a great many of the therapies applied in church supported psychological counselling sessions are at least as experiential and often just as bizarre as the experiences occurring at Charismatic meetings.

The Bible - through the ministry of the Holy Spirit - is the believers' God-given resource for discernment, a Biblically mandated necessity for withstanding these end-time religious delusions.  Without Biblical discernment, we're left only with fleshly reasoning, vain imaginations or subjective intuition (Proverbs 16:25):

'There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.'

The growing trend away from doctrinal absolutes, from conclusions based on Scriptural examples, and from any Biblical scrutiny or testing has created a vacuum rapidly being filled by experiential religion of the 'Word-Faith'/Vineyard movements. This translates into feelings becoming more and more the measure of what is of God and what is not.  That trend can clearly be seen among those who express confidence that these 'experiences' are of God. When pressed for an explanation and for scriptural support, the responses sound more like wishful thinking.  Rodney Howard-Browne reflects its experiential nature:

'You can't understand what God is doing in these meetings with an analytical mind. The only way you're going to understand what God is doing is with your heart.'

These sentiments are clearly un-Biblical, would be entirely at home in the Mormon cult, and were echoed by Episcopal rector Hugh Williams, who was changed by such experiences, endorsing them with this unwitting indictment: 'Words [including God's Word?] have become meaningless in our society. Signs and wonders are what must capture our attention'.  Attention has certainly being captured - and at the expense of preaching the Word.  Terry Virgo, a New Frontiers International director in England, wrote in a highly supportive Charisma article that the Lord gave Virgo's church the following prophecy: 'Prepare yourselves for disruption.' He added, 'Now, I'm a preacher who puts a very high value on Biblical exposition. But I have to admit that people are being changed more radically and completely through God's supernatural touch in these meetings than they ever have been through listening to me preach!'  Both the prophecy and the implication of Virgo's statement run counter to the Scriptures: 'Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine' (2 Timothy 4:2).  Sadly, Paul's Holy Spirit-given counsel is conspicuously absent in today's so-called Holy Spirit revival and Virgo clearly did not consider what Scripture informs us regarding prophecy:

1 Corinthians 14:31-33 (ASV) - For ye all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; for God is not a God of confusion [Greek: ἀκαταστασία - akatastasía (pronounced - ak-at-as-tah-see'-ah) meaning: instability, disorder, commotion, confusion, tumult], but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints ...

And that certainly explains the problems with Virgo's preaching!

John Wimber expressed confidence that the 'experiences' that were taking place were from the Lord, but the basis for his confidence was highly questionable, since he admitted:

'There's nothing in Scripture to support these kinds of phenomena ... So I feel no obligation to try to explain it ... It's just people responding to God.'

This was an opinion expressed in an interview with Peter Jennings, when he was asked:  'Are you utterly, totally convinced that [the manifestations are] always the Holy Spirit?'  Wimber replied, 'No. I'm largely convinced that it's the Holy Spirit, but I believe that it's a mixture of humanity and spirit.' What about the demonic -  and who in the Vineyard is capable of discerning the difference?  Jennings noted that 'at the Vineyard church we found that people were hungry for a faith they could feel.' Indeed, feelings reign supreme in this realm of 'signs and wonders.' People are attracted to the phenomenon because of emotional desires or feelings. They 'operate' in that realm guided by their feelings, and their argument that God is involved is based upon their feelings.

And that certainly explains the problems with Wimber's repeated contradictions!

The 'Word-Faith'/Vineyard movements are just part of the parcel of deception that seeks to destroy the only Biblical basis for unity - the truth.  The Bible alone contains God's truth, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit to Christ's sheep (John 10:27; 1 Corinthians  2:11-16).  God's Word is not only 'the truth'; it judges all that is false.  Certainly experiences are not necessarily evil. They are, however, all subjective and must be scrutinized by means of the Word of Truth. Peter had a tremendous experience when he was in the presence of God on the Mount of Transfiguration, and it's worth noting that one of the experiential manifestations that took place is noticeably missing in the 'revivals' documented today: falling on one's face in fear of God. 

Note, also, that the Scriptural 'falling in the Spirit' (aka - "Slain in the Spirit" or "Resting in the Spirit") is clearly on one's face and only backwards when God is making a judgement on those who oppose Him:

Numbers 22:31 (KJV) - Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

Ezekiel 3:23-24 (KJV) - Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face. Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.

Ezekiel 43:2-3 (KJV) - And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.

Ezekiel 44:4 (KJV) - Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house: and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.

Matthew 17:5-7 (KJV) - While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.

John 18:4-6 (KJV) - Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward [Greek: ὀπίσω - opísō - meaning: aback, backward, behind], and fell to the ground.

Since other Scriptures do not specifically say in which direction people were falling, people believe they  are on safe ground making the assumption that these other verses give the possibility of people falling backwards when the presence of God manifested in their presence.  An 'argument from silence' is no argument at all and all the other 'arguments' used to try and support this practice are also based on experiential claims.  Having counselled people who have suffered clear demonic attacks (e.g. oppression and depression) after attending 'Charismatic' meetings, we cannot find anything good to support claims for Wimber-like practices.

Peter makes it absolutely clear that, although he valued his personal experience, God's Word is utterly trustworthy - and totally necessary:

2 Peter 1:19-20 (KJV) - We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

Without that absolute basis for objective discernment, the experiential is a pathway to delusion (Psalms 119:104): 'Through thy precepts (Hebrew:  commandment, statute) I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.'  Biblical discernment of what is truly of God (Isaiah 8:20; Acts 17:11) is an absolute necessity for the believer in any age - and no less in these deceptive last days.

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How honest are the 'mighty vessels' you champion?  Interestingly, unlike newspapers and other media, television and radio depend on using airwaves that belong to all of us. The Federal Communications Commission is charged with regulating these broadcasts in the public interest.  The United Kingdom has a law that requires that the claims of healings and other supernatural phenomena must be verified before being broadcast.  If only this law was applied worldwide we might see the end of these fraudulent ministries. Many American cities have laws that require that those who solicit more than 50 people must obtain a license from the city.  TV and radio preachers, with massive direct mail campaigns, routinely break those laws.  Many of the televangelists claim to raise money for a certain project, then use the money for something else - sometimes to buy property or items in their own name. People should urge their state comptrollers and the IRS to target these operations for tax violations.  It is no surprise to see Hinn and Cerullo being investigated for such!

Ironically, television has both given exposure to, and exposed, this evil at the root of our society, and especially in the American church - a new kind of Roman paganism disguised in the form of televangelists.  The same thing happened in the 1500s in Europe with a new and powerful technology - the printing press. A grotesque form of paganism in the church was exposed by the printed word - and it led to the Reformation.

Why should the church be ashamed of this $2.5 billion 'business' which claims to preach the gospel?  Because these TV and radio evangelists are vying for a donor pool of about five million people.  They mainly prey on the elderly (55% of the 5 million are elderly women) and 'the desperation pool' - the poorest and neediest members of society (who make up 35% of the 5 million).  These are the people who are most desperate for a 'miracle' - the poor and elderly who are in danger of becoming homeless, those whose child or spouse has cancer or AIDS, in short, those who are experiencing the worst kinds of suffering.  Some are so needy that they even send in their food stamps or their wedding rings.   What kind of person can take advantage of these people in such a manner?  Sadly, the remaining 10% of the 5 million are those who might be classified as upper-middle class, who want spiritual justification for their greed.  Many city and state solicitation statutes are being broken by preachers who broadcast appeals on radio or television and then follow up with direct mail campaigns asking for money, without ever applying for or obtaining the required permits and licenses for that jurisdiction.  There are also those who use the airwaves and their tax-exempt privileges to bolster their own political agendas and to financially support friendly candidates.  Careful surveys of the programmes offered reveal that many religious broadcasters devote almost no time to what they claim to be presenting - 'the gospel.' 

The Christian organisation, Trinity Foundation, has repeatedly been asked to help major television news teams such as PrimeTime Live, CNN, Inside Edition and A Current Affair to investigate televangelists such as Robert Tilton, Benny Hinn, Bishop Earl Paulk, Larry Lea, W. V. Grant and others.  They established a toll-free hotline for victims of televangelist abuses that has received more than 5,000 calls.  In 1988 they began The Dallas Project, a programme to challenge churches to meet the needs of the homeless by members taking needy people into their homes.  The attendant publicity resulted in them being swamped with homeless people who revealed that many of them had given their last dollars to one of the 'Word-Faith' televangelists, betting on a spiritual 'roll of the dice' to get them one last break.  They also received calls from many other ministries that had become the dumping ground for the discarded fruit of the televangelists.  One woman had received an inheritance of $53,000 and, over time, sent one of the Word-Faith televangelists $49,000.  When she fell on hard times, she went to his church and asked for help.  He told her to go to a social service agency.  Such utter callousness from someone claiming to be a man of God - and who declared the efficacy of 'Word Faith' and 'prosperity' - is astounding.

What a contrast to the true gospel.  Jesus preached the very opposite of the Word Faith 'gospel':

'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it' (Mark 8:34-35).

Paul echoed this in Philippians 3:7:

'But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.'

Why believe the pagan lie of duality, that God does only good things and any negatives in our lives come from Satan, that 'real' Christians never have to experience any discomfort, any struggle or depression or period of doubt.  This pagan belief is un-Scriptural and robs us of the benefits of God's chastisement, for 'whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth' (Hebrews 12:6-8).  Receiving that chastisement rather than running from it is so important that those who don't receive it are called 'bastards':

⁸  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Peter reminds us (1 Peter 4:12-13):

¹²  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  ¹³  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Why would Peter warn us to 'think it not strange' concerning the fiery trial that will come upon us; that we should expect persecution and testing and to count it joy to when we are 'partakers of Christ's sufferings'?


Scripture is clear that, if we do not suffer with Him, we will not reign with Him (Romans 8:19):

¹⁶  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  ¹⁷  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.  ¹⁸  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

It is through chastisement that the seldom-seen fruits of perseverance, patience and long-suffering are developed.  It is unlikely that we would ever hear a 'Word-Faith' proponent making the 'negative' confession that they were 'chief of sinners', as Paul did (1 Timothy 1:16), and it is for this reason that we doubt that such men and women have ever abandoned 'self' and thrown themselves entirely onto God's mercy.

This tendency towards paganism that lies just beneath the surface in the Church in America is glaringly apparent in the activities of the televangelists.  One reason is that there is no accountability for televangelists.  They are insulated from their audiences, and many times surrounded by body guards.  It is difficult to compare their private lives with their preaching, to see if it matches, but when they do reveal their 'old Adam' to the world through their public outbursts the evidence is severely disappointing.  Sometimes the 'board of directors' of their organisation is revealed to  consist only of themselves, their wife and the secretary - a dangerous situation which is ripe for potential corruption of the kind that brought down Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart.

Another of their hallmarks is that they lie a lot.  They falsify testimonials on their broadcasts. They conceal their health problems, while preaching that to be sick reveals a lack of faith.  What would Jesus or Paul say to these men?  The brazenness of these prophets of profit knows no end.  One of their lawyers boasted that the U.S. Constitution gives them the 'right to defraud' the public in the name of freedom of religion.  But the Supreme Court covered this ground more than 50 years ago. In one of its rulings, it stated:

'Nothing we have said is intended even remotely to imply that, under the cloak of religion, persons may, with impunity, commit fraud upon the public.'

If you complain that their 'gospel' doesn't work they tell you there is hidden sin in your life - or you have a demon oppressing you and an exorcism will be prescribed.  The lives and messages of the televangelists reveal a progressively straying path toward paganism.  Christians who seriously study the history of religions are used to seeing the vile evidence of shamanism, or the Papal Roman Catholic Church, taking money for their 'truth'. But who would ever have imagined seeing an ostensibly 'Protestant Christian group' taking money for delivering 'the gospel'?  God has surely allowed them to come to prominence so the church can see the reflection of itself in them, and repent.

You write: 'You should never take a knife to a gunfight, and that is just what this Christian Expositor non-denominational, orthodox evangelical Christian group have done. I have back [sic] up the Word of Faith message using Scripture, it always was and always will be. How dare they call the Faith Message Cultic.'

TCE:  You deceive yourself if you really believe that you have 'back[ed] up the Word of Faith message using Scripture' - or disproven the cultic nature of the 'Faith Message'!  You have also forgotten that you aren't in 'a gunfight' and we haven't brought a knife against you - your fight is against a sword -  'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God' (Ephesians 6:17; cf. 4:12; Matthew 10:34; Revelation 1:16 ; 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21), which has easily dismantled the false doctrines of the 'Word-Faith' teachers.

The most compelling evidence that the 'Word Faith'/Vineyard movements are aberrations from true Christian doctrine, and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, comes from the straightforward evidence that their teachings cannot stand comparison with Scripture.  Not one of the 'unique' claims of the 'Word Faith' teachers has ever been shown to be supported by Scripture and it is telling that this is exactly the same situation that is found when the teachings of the cults are examined.  True Christian doctrine is defensible, but we have seen absolutely no redeeming evidence to support the claims of the 'Word Faith'/Vineyard movements and therefore suggest that you make a long and serious examination of your beliefs in the absence of any material supplied by these ministries.  Only the pure Word of God can set you free - and whom the Son sets free is 'free indeed' (John 8:36).

One thing you were right about: 'quit relying on others to tell ... what the truth is ... there are those out there that don't even have the brains God gave a Raccoon, and their [sic] claiming to be teachers of the Word.'

If only you seriously examined the claims of your 'mighty vessels' who you have relied on for the so-called gospel you preach and teach!  And those 'vessels' have certainly revealed their less-than-Raccoon intelligence!  God's unchanging Word reveals that, although the 'Word Faith' movement accepts most of the orthodox doctrines of Christianity, its dualistic world view and doctrines of human nature, Christ's atonement, and deification of the Christian, constitute major aberrations from historic Christianity.  Anybody recognising these facts should follow the admonition of the Apostle Paul who was inspired to write (Galatians 1:8-9):

⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

In the Precious Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

TCE

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Pastor Jeff replies: 19^th June 2006

Thank you very much for your response, I look forward to reading it. I did start and it looks like it will be a very interesting study.

In His Service,

Pastor Jeff

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Sadly, we received no further response from 'Pastor Jeff'!

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