They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 9:3 (ESV)
Charismaniacal theology and churches today corrupt what was traditional Pentecostal beliefs. I fully understand why cessationists conclude what they do based on the absolute silliness that passes for theology regarding the gifts of the spirit today. There is no policing the incredibly stupid teachings and false manifestations we see every day on Charisma News and in our churches. Any attempt to police is met with the cult like response of "quenching the spirit" or religious spirit nonsense. This is just the Christianese version of "fake news" used to never confront reality from those who prefer to hear the echo of their own false beliefs rather than the truth. In the key verse today from the real prophet Jeremiah, judgment is being pronounced upon God's people who had continued to go astray from the truth. The parallel is striking. These Charismaniacal false teachers and prophets of today bend their tongue like a bow and as a result, the truth is cast aside and the falseness they promote takes root in the land. They proceed from one evil to the next beloved because they do not actually know the God of whom they pretend to preach. As the bible says they are hucksters, peddling the word for personal greed and gain. One of the most prolific among them is Jeremiah Johnson.
Perhaps you remember Jeremiah Johnson from a few years back when he got exposed with nearly all of the Charismaniacal false prophets for falsely prophesying a second Trump presidency. Unlike the others who have no shame, apparently Johnson decided to use this event to pretend to fall on his sword and rebrand how he fleeces the flock. Instead of proceeding as a "prophet" he established a new con of the sheep by claiming now to be some kind of an end times expert. He immediately was offering classes for cash and making guest appearances to bolster the new deception. He often returns however to write publicly and reinforce his image as some kind of an expert and the above link was found on his Facebook feed last week and is quite bad as he outlines eight marks of illegal Pentecostalism. Even the title reveals his absurdity as he is certainly not to be trusted as some kind of judge, jury or executioner of what is "illegal" when it comes to the matters of the Lord. His eight marks however reveal so much about how distorted he and the Charismaniacs make the things of Pentecost. Remember, the bible does not support cessationism but it also does not support the bastardization of the gifts as we see in the Charismaniacal church today. So, let us reason once more together as we work through these marks, which will define the abuses of Charismania, quite lucidly.
"As a graduate of a Pentecostal University, instructor on revival history, and a church planter who loves the move of the Holy Spirit, I created this short list to help us identify true pentecost from the fake. 1. They Do Not Embrace Speaking in Tongues - If you do not actively pray in tongues or are ashamed of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, you should not claim to be Pentecostal. Pentecostal church services and individuals invite the Holy Spirit, not quench and grieve Him." - Jeremiah Johnson
Planting churches with false theology is not a good thing. His boasting about being an instructor on revival history is just part of his new con, where he created his own "school." That aside, let us deal with tongues because there is so much unbiblical in just this first point. Let us start with the absolute absurdity that we need to invite the Holy Spirit anywhere. Apparently his Charismaniacal god is powerless and can only respond to our prompting. He is lurking outside the church doors just hoping we sing "Holy Spirit you are welcome here" so he knows it is safe to come in. The truly sad thing is the notion that if you do not treat God in this subservient manner then it is YOU somehow grieving the spirit. What absolute garbage. This is akin to the dominionist nonsense that says god was somehow "removed from our schools." Like He is just mulling around outside the door waiting for us ask him back in. What a weak God Jeremiah offers. The second point here deals with verses they clearly do not understand:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. - Romans 8:26 (ESV)
1
1
1
