And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention. - 1Kings 18:28-29 (ESV)
I do not want anyone to think this is easy. I was born again in a Charismatic church. I did the hallelujah hop, gibberish as tongues and the slain in the spirit merry-go-round. Even with the side doctrines compromised I was blessed to have a real pastor. A pastor who believed in the life changing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank God for that every day because without the preaching of the uncompromised Gospel - no one gets saved. I was never one to simply join and sit so I got involved. First the Baptism Ministry, which was and always will be my favorite. Then the television ministry and the media ministry. Soon it was seven ministries, three services each Sunday and the Friday night prayer service. After two people prophesied that I would preach the Gospel as a minister, which I thought was ridiculous at the time, I found myself taking courses to become credentialed by the Assemblies of God. Four and a half years later I would be such and preaching too. I started a ministry that was originally just designed to be able to encourage people by expositing the word of God. Soon however God would transform it into a discernment ministry.
The problem was that the more I read the bible, the more I realized some of what we were taught was simply not supported. Most of what I was hearing on Christian television was even worse. The ministry grew as I wrote thousands of devotionals preaching what was true and exposing what was false. While some walked away from me because their Christian bubble was getting poked at, many more became friends as emails would come in from around the world about Christ setting people free from the darkness they were trapped in. Many do not know this but several years ago I was going to quit. The devil did a good job convincing me that no one was really reading and my efforts were in vain. I prayed for God to reveal to me great things that I did not know. That night I received an email from someone on my reading list who had been left paraplegic from a motorcycle accident. I knew that accident had also taken her faith as she was questioning why this had happened to her. She wanted to let me know that the writing had restored her faith.
The next day, she went home to be with the Lord.
The message from God was pretty clear. It is my job to write and His job to make sure His word does not return void. So His work continued as the church devolved further and further away from Him and His Gospel. Fifteen years ago there were more definable false gospels. One could easily spot the prosperity gospel of Mike Murdoch or Brian Houston. The word faith theology of Joyce Meyer or Creflo Dollar was obvious to many. These have become more of a package theology these days. Most heretics are not solely prosperity or word faith. They are both, as well as false signs and lying wonders, healing on demand, clairvoyance as prophecy, and any number of other bad teachings. This Kumbaya Heresy is the effect of the Bethel generation. There is not a false theology out there that Bethel Church does not openly ascribe to. Hillsong is the same way and so is IHOP. So are the apostate church media sources such as Charisma News. There is however a unifying force that binds them and that is the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and dominionism. It runs from the absurd notion that Christ cannot come back until we conquer seven cultural mountains to simply not being able to see that your patriotism has become an idol.
This became clear to me in 2012. God gave the church an impossible choice that year in a liberal democrat and a member of a Satanic cult. Listen, I have no problem with Mitt Romney. He seems like a very agreeable fellow but he is a Mormon. He is actually a direct descendent of one of the 12 founding apostles of Mormonism. His faith is not trivial to him. Mormonism was founded by Joseph Smith in the 1800s. Walking in the woods behind his upstate New York house, he claimed an angel led him to golden plates upon which was writ a new gospel. Strange, I think God warned us about this somewhere:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1:8-9 (ESV)
Let them be accursed! Instead however, the "church" lined up squarely behind Romney because he had the little "r" next to his name. The Billy Graham Ministries even removed Mormonism from their list of cults. That is idolatry beloved. When you compromise what you know is right for what is merely expedient. Fast forward four years and God gave the church another absurd choice. Another liberal Democrat or the least Christian man to ever run for office. Before you get your temple garment in a bunch (break out the Google machine, there's a hidden joke) remember that Donald Trump was still paying of Porn stars while he was running for office. I am not here to debate this though because there is no debate. Never mind that he is thrice married and cheated on all of his wives. Never mind that he said he has nothing to ask God for forgiveness for. Never mind that he believes celebrities can grab women by their genitals. Never mind all of it because when it is brought up the idolators just mutter "fake news" as they publicly cut themselves like the 450 prophets of Baal in our key verses. With their blood gushing out upon them they just continue to rave on. Election fraud! Watermarked ballots! Landslide! George Soros, Bill Gates, Hugo Chavez and Bigfoot are behind it all! When you believe the word from the mypillow guy before the bible? Yeah, that is called idolatry.
But it is not easy beloved. In fact it is just as disheartening as it was all those years ago when I was questioning if anyone was reading anymore. Now I think they are but they do not care. They built a wall around their Christian bubble that no truth is allowed to penetrate. If the going gets too tough, they just mosey on over to their new safe space, Parler, where crazy is the norm. But crazy does not serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we remember the Gospel? Do we remember that it is the only cause Christ commissioned us for? I am afraid that most do not amidst an apostate church more concerned with pretending there was widespread voter fraud than with sharing about the Savior of their souls. This is why there is no choice but to carry on as these end times deepen. It is time to circle to wagons with people of like faith and stand against the growing darkness of the modern Laodicean Church. A church that cannot see through its own propaganda that it is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. A church that cannot feel the shame of its own nakedness because it is so cloaked in the utter carnality of this world. It is not easy beloved because of the profound sadness of an entire movement of people who have reduced the life changing faith in the Savior of the entire world down to defending a man who lost and election by over seven million votes. Crying out aloud, cutting themselves until whatever credibility they may have had has been drained from their self-inflicted wounds. Raving on at the false god they worship but receiving no answer. There is no voice to be returned. Now I just wait for the day that no one pays them anymore attention and they are left to chasing the echo of their own deceitful voice.
Rev. Anthony
