But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live." -- Exodus 33: 20 (NLT)
I am saddened every day when I see what the Body of Christ is willing to fall for. I can understand some being confused by the little lumps of leaven. The wolves in sheep's clothing are sometimes difficult to notice because so much of what they say sounds right. Satan, the original heretic, loves mixing a little bit of leaven with the truth. Besides examples such as this though it seems that a portion of the body is simply so spiritually ignorant that they are willing to accept any parlor trick or any outrageous claim made by anyone who is willing to say the name of Jesus.
One of the more recent types of claims we see more and more of is the notion that people have been visited by angels, Jesus or God Himself. Let's deal with these separately. First is the subject of angels. The Bible makes it clear that people have entertained angels without even knowing it and there is so much happening in the spiritual realm every day that we cannot see. So, this is not saying people are not visited by angels. What it is questioning is the "why." Every time in the Bible that there is an angelic visitation, there is a specific reason for the visit. The angels visiting Lot were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The angel visiting Mary was to inform her of the pregnancy by the Holy Spirit. The angel blocking the road in front of Balaam was there to kill him, if not for his more insightful donkey. The point being is that every angel visit had a specific reason having to do with the business of God.
Not so today. What we see today is the usual bands of false prophets claiming angel visitations for the purposes of leaving feathers behind, or gem stones, or gold dust. No real reason other than to provide the "oohs and ahhs" they want before collecting the offering. Several years ago there was Todd Bentley claiming he was visited regularly by an angel named "Emma." This man was packing 15,000 people a night into tent meetings to watch him violently kick and punch people who wanted healing. This is the level of desperation in the body and lack of discernment. Noted heretic Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in California claims the angels that visit him and his church leave behind feathers that continue to fall from nowhere. Thankfully the Bible has the truth for us about every subject imaginable:
Don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, - Colossians 2: 18 (NLT)
Their sinful minds have made them proud indeed. If faux angelic visits were not enough we also see an increase in the absolutely ludicrous. I watched a video the other day by someone named Kat Kerr, who has written a book about what heaven is like. She claims the knowledge to write such a book because she says she visits heaven all the time. Amongst the lunacy she claims is that there are movie theaters and amusement parks in heaven, our pets will be waiting for us, and that we don't have to sit around all day "just worshipping God." She states that God Himself tours her around heaven because He has commissioned her to come back and tell us what it is like -- even if her version apparently disagrees with the Word of God. She further asserts that she has sat in the lap of God and looked into His face.
That brings us to the key verse today and how we can know for certain that Kat Kerr is indeed a false prophet the Bible speaks about so often. She is claiming things that are directly opposed in Scripture. We see this also in the testimony of Kim Walker, from the modern day latter rain movement known as Jesus Culture. In it, she claims visions of Jesus Christ -- not dreams beloved -- waking visions. In these visions, Jesus stretches His arms out like "Stretch Armstrong" and laughs maniacally to show Ms. Walker how much He loves her. She said, "He spoke to me in a way that would fit in for me." In the second waking vision, she is whisked away to heaven itself where Jesus stands by her side and God the Father stands before her. When Walker asks what was God thinking when He made her, God reaches into His chest and "rips out a chunk of His heart." He then proceeds to mold and shape this chunk into a miniature version of Ms. Walker which He places into a wind up jewelry box. Walker ends her testimony by saying whenever God opened the box, the mini-Walker would dance and worship Him, and God would go "whoo-hoo!" How does this line up with others who have seen God in the Bible? How did Isaiah react to seeing God?
Then I said, "It's all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's Armies." -- Isaiah 6: 5 (NLT)
How did the Apostle John react when Jesus was revealed to him in Revelation:
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the First and the Last. -- Revelation 1: 17 (NLT)
Yet Ms. Kerr would have us believe she has a season pass to heaven like it is a six flags attraction and Ms. Walker thinks that Jesus took her to the throne room so she could see God clap his hands at the notion that she might actually worship Him. I am not even going to bother questioning their sincerity. There is no reason to because what they say is simply not in line with the Bible. In the midst of their "sincerity" however they may want to consider these Scriptures:
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve. -- 2Corinthians 11: 13-15 (NLT)
Beloved, Spiritual warfare is very real. You can chase these pseudo spiritual experiences and may even get to the point of Walker or Kerr but do not think for a second that the spirit you are dealing with is God's Holy Spirit because He cannot violate His own Word. What is so troubling here however is the continual erosion of discernment and reverence. This is the ongoing damage done by the seeker friendly, emergent church theories that have watered down Christ to the point that we no longer seriously consider His holiness. When every sermon is about grace and every other worship song is about how much God wants to be our friend we no longer recognize His Lordship. Just because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ that does not mean there should be ignorance and irreverence in its place.
Rev. Anthony.
