Witnessing

I wonder if we Christians actually understand what the Bible says about witnessing.  Recent headlines ranging from Senator Grassley’s investigation into televangelists to the television coverage of the circus in Lakeland Florida suggest not.

In the case of the Grassley story, six televangelists are being investigated.  I won’t go into all the details, but some have complied with his requests for financial information and others, Kenneth Copeland being the most vocal, are fighting tooth and nail to resist.  I wonder what part of “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men”  (2 Peter 2:13) don’t the Copeland’s and their supporters not understand.  Are they looking for legal loopholes in God’s word?  Another of God’s witnesses, Paul, says “The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”  Why do these great men say these things?  I believe it’s so the Body of Christ, the Church,  doesn’t look foolish.  When we look foolish to the non-believing world our credibility is destroyed.

The alleged “revival” in Lakeland is another story.  All over the internet  are videos of Todd Bentley  boasting of kicking  a little old lady to heal her.  There’s other video of that “revival” with people acting drunk, convulsing on the ground and many other types of uncontrolled behavior.  When I watch those videos Paul’s letter to the Corinthians comes to mind.  He warns about a possibility, “…if…some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?”  Again the credibility of the Body of Christ and and of Christ, is damaged.

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Cor.5:20 )

It’s a shame that the Copelands and the Bentleys in the body of Christ don’t understand that they are Christ’s ambassadors.  They, and all of us, need to understand that our God is a dignified and Holy God.  We should represent him in a dignified way, being imitators of Christ.

We need to all understand that as we show the world we love Jesus, by the way we conduct ourselves and as we speak to the world about Jesus, we must follow the Apostle Peter’s advice.  “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

Letter to the editor of Charisma Magazine

The following is letter I wrote and submitted to the editor of Charisma magazine on June 12 2008. I wrote it after read three columns written by J. Lee Grady. Read the articles here, here and here

J. Lee Grady’s recent articles about the Lakeland event caused me to contemplate other problems there are in Charismatic circles and why they occur. It’s clear to me that the greatest danger facing the Charismatic movement is the blind acceptance of false reports, false teachers, false words of knowledge and false prophets.

Let me give example of what I mean when I say we blindly accept almost anything we hear. There have many reports from Lakeland about people being raised from the dead. When we read about those raised from the dead in the Bible, we get facts; names, places and usually witnesses. We get none of this from Lakeland. Just unsubstantiated rumors, which are just blindly accepted as fact. Can anyone produce just one death certificate, that was voided due to a miracle at Lakeland? How many of us have even demanded proof? Why is it we settle for rumor and refuse to demand facts? We are clearly told, “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good..” If there is proof then let us all raise our hands and praise God for the Miracles. If there is no proof then let’s all cry out that Jesus is dishonored. The Apostle John tells us to test the spirits, but we disobey. We hear Todd Bentley accuse the Holy Spirit of ordering him to kick a lady in the face, to heal her. (watch here) Why are so few asking why the Spirit, who’s fruit is gentleness, would do this? Peter and Paul tell us to obey our government’s laws? Why do so few ask why the Holy Spirit would then tell Mr. Bentley to do otherwise and commit an assault? Where is our discernment?

God’s word will never be wrong no matter who or what speaks it, ever. When our Creator speaks there is a very important message He wants to convey to us. Due to the incredible love He has for us, He will not convey that message through an unreliable source. If God, through whom all things are possible, cannot find a man or woman who will allow the Holy Spirit to speak through them accurately, then God will speak to us through rocks or chickens. To believe that a Prophet of God can be wrong, calls into question the accuracy of the entire Bible, since it’s written by Prophets. The true Prophet is like a tree planted by God Himself. The fruit that the Prophet bears is the Prophesy he utters. That fruit is directly from God through the Holy Spirit, (2 Peter 1:20-21) and therefore cannot be wrong. Jesus said ” A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” If we believe otherwise it opens the barn door up for every kind of false and crazy teaching. I don’t understand why this is not perfectly clear to all those, in Charismatic circles, who claim to be teachers and prophets. I am absolutely perplexed as to why few at Charisma Magazine or in the Charismatic world will not stand up and speak out for the honor of God, our Creator. It must appear to God that we honor men above our Savior, when we cut false prophets and teachers slack.

As J. Lee Grady has learned, if you are obedient and test or examine these things as God would have it, you will be attacked. I would say the attacks most frequently will come from those who do not “examine everything carefully”. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:15 “The naive believes everything, But the sensible man considers his steps.” It’s time stop acting naive. It’s time for us all to look deep inside and ask ourselves why we are reluctant to point out the false brothers among us. Is it our pride that stops us? It it because we will be forced to recognize that we’ve been wrong and believed lies? Is it because we must denounce those who taught us those lies and we do not have the boldness?

We need to heed J. Lee Grady’ call to accountability.