Recently while
searching for a
particular
document that I
had placed in an
old photo album
years ago for
safe keeping
(usually how we
wind up actually
losing things,
right!?), I took
an unexpected
stroll down
memory lane.
I had gone
through at least
a dozen books of
images, old
newspaper
clippings,
seeing members
of churches we
had pastored and
records of
events frozen in
time from nearly
30 years inside
institutionalized
Christianity,
when finally
between dusty
storage bins and
spider webs I
found what I was
looking for. I
placed the
coveted item
among the
research notes
for the new book
on Spiritual
Warfare that my
wife Nita and I
plan to write
later this year,
then returned
everything else
to the closets.
That should have
been that, but
for the next
week the old
memories in
those boxes kept
calling to me
about things and
friends I had
nearly
forgotten—people
who represented
the true mission
of the Church
and were
wonderful
examples to my
wife and I about
what it means to
be a Christian.
Their names
would not be
recognized by
most
today—dedicated
believers like
O.R. Cross,
Henrietta
Stewart,
Lorraine Morgan,
Wyoming Rosebud
Dollar, C.K.
Barnes, Eugene &
Evelyn Fuller,
Annie Walton,
and others of
the New
Testament clan.
And then there
was that other
group, hiding in
plain sight
among the
believers,
sometimes even
leading them,
the ones the
Bible calls
"clouds without
water, carried
about of winds;
trees whose
fruit withereth,
without fruit,
twice dead,
plucked up by
the roots" (Jude
1:12).
Among this
second class
were—and still
are—some
fantastic
heretics I have
known.
Take our old
friend
Carlton Pearson
for instance.
When I was
pastor of Life
Center and then
Family Worship
Center near
Portland, Oregon
during the 80s,
my church was
the host for
TBN's West Coast
broadcasts and
special events
where some of
America's top
evangelists
appeared almost
nightly for a
while. In those
days, the Church
was in flux. The
Great Generation
with its Faith
of the Fathers
was getting
older, and
errant doctrines
made delicious
by nasty
end-time agents
known as demons
were finding
more and more
willing hearts
who were having
the time of
their lives
abandoning solid
theology in
exchange for
such teachings
as "The Doctrine
of Inclusion"
(in which nobody
goes to hell)
eventually
branding such
false prophets
as
heretics
(including
Carlton Pearson)
among thoughtful
evangelicals. I
can tell you
Carlton didn't
start out that
way. He was a
sweet man with a
heart of gold
who
unfortunately
not only lost
his way, but
embraced
delusion. God
only knows how
many he has
since led
astray.
Then there were
those who
embraced things
far worse than
"Inclusion." For
instance,
"Kingdom Age"
theology (also
known as
Reconstructionism,
Kingdom Now
Theology,
Theonomy,
Dominion
Theology, and
most recently,
Dominionism),
which singularly
has wrought some
of the most
far-reaching
destruction
within the Body
of Christ this
century.
Dominionism is a
form of
hyper-Calvinism
(though
supported by
both
reconstructionists
and
non-reconstructionists)
that ultimately
seeks to
establish the
Kingdom of God
on earth through
the union of
politics and
religion. Though
ravenously
popular among
most
talking-heads
for the
Religious Right,
combining
religious faith
with politics as
a legislative
system of
governance such
as Dominionism
would do,
hearkens the
formula upon
which Antichrist
will come to
power. Note how
in the book of
Revelation,
chapter 13, the
political
figure of
Antichrist
derives
ultra-national
dominance from
the world’s
religious
faithful through
the influence of
an
ecclesiastical
leader known as
the False
Prophet. Similar
political
enthusiasm
exists among
dominionists
despite the fact
that neither
Jesus nor His
disciples (who
turned the world
upside down
through
preaching the
gospel of
Christ, the true
"power of God,"
according to
Paul) ever
imagined the
goal of changing
the world
through
supplanting
secular
government with
an authoritarian
theocracy. In
fact, Jesus made
it clear that
His followers
would not fight
earthly
authorities
purely because
His kingdom was
"not of this
world" (John
18:36). While
every modern
citizen—religious
and
non-religious—has
the
responsibility
to lobby for
moral good,
combining the
mission of the
church with
political
aspirations is
not only
unprecedented in
New Testament
theology—including
the life of
Christ and the
pattern of the
New Testament
church—but a
tragic scheme
concocted by
sinister forces
that seek to
defer the Church
from its true
power while
enriching
insincere
bureaucrats.
So... let me
take this moment
to also add
that, while I
personally
appreciate the
values
represented by
such people as
Sarah Palin (and
I vote!), my
prayer for
believers is
that they will
not be fooled
(again) into
believing in
2012 that they
can fulfill the
will of God by
pulling a voting
lever.
While great
heresies like
"Dominionism"
and "Inclusion"
are, or should
be, self
evident, other
contenders for
the most
spectacular
heresies in the
world today
would have to
include the
Prosperity
Movement,
Ecumenical
Modernism, and
Dual Covenant
(wherein Jews do
not need to
accept Jesus as
Messiah)
espoused by such
well-known
preachers as
John Hagee . Yet
those aged
voices that
called out to me
recently from my
fading boxes of
memories also
reminded that,
while it's
easier today to
get an "amen"
while condemning
the BIG LIE of
Dominionism, the
most insidious
doctrines are
those "smaller
lucifers," which
are often harder
to perceive. For
instance how
easy it is (and
was) to see
through the
glaring examples
of self-serving
and lavish
lifestyles that
some of my old
televangelist
friends sought
support for,
while
overlooking or
even excusing
Luciferianisn
(selfishness)
that is measured
in the tiniest
of portions,
minute amounts
so cleverly
concealed within
subtle and
popular
doctrines today
that they are
nearly
impossible to
detect.
Ask any
evangelist who
has tried to
take the Gospel
outside the
four-doors of
the local
assembly what I
mean and hear
them repeat
stories of how
quickly certain
members arose to
resist the plan
and to grumble
over the
resources that
could otherwise
be used to
benefit them.
This is the
cancer that two
decades of
prosperity
preaching,
inward focusing
and me-ism has
produced. Of
course most of
these
anti-evangelists
wrap their
Luciferianism in
nifty religious
phrases—like
Judas Iscariot
did when he
pretended to
care for the
poor but
secretly wanted
to steal the
value of the oil
that was used to
anoint the feet
of Jesus (John
12:1-6).
These
types resemble
Judas in another
way as well;
they don't even
know how they
are thus being
used as fleshy
gloves, the
earthen hands of
that invisible
spirit, the
master of
waterless clouds
operating within
or behind them
that hates true
fishers of men.
But for those
with eyes to
see, the father
of lies always
gives himself
away through his
envy of others,
seeking what he
can gain from
believers and
religion, not
what he can
give, then
pretending that
there is
something wrong
with those he
cannot control,
those that get
things done like
Jesus did,
disparaging
them, while he
himself
accomplishes
nothing but
division,
diversion, and
destruction.
Perhaps you have
seen this spirit
in the actions
or heard it in
the mouths of
people you
thought were
your partners.
When once you
(or somebody you
knew) had
nothing more to
give them, they
turned away from
you, or worse,
against you and
revealed the
awful truth:
their religious
spirit had only
come for what it
could get, gain,
take, absorb,
and then turned
"to kill and to
destroy" (John
10:10a).
Thankfully the
verse above goes
on to describe
the true
spirit of Christ,
which comes so
that people
might have life,
and that they
might have it
more abundantly.
This is why it
is wise to
observe what
religious people
do, not only
what they say,
so that
ultimately it
becomes clear
what spirit is
operating within
them. "Ye shall
know them by
their fruits,"
Jesus said in
Matthew 7:16.
Yes, it's true,
I have
personally known
some fantastic
heretics. But as
I get older and
the institution
that I served so
long breathes
its final
breaths and
crumbles beneath
the mighty
tsunami of
Dominionism,
Prosperity
Cultism and
other doctrines
of demons, I
wonder about the
survivors, where
they will go now
and how they
will persevere,
and I find that
my pastor's
heart is
concerned most
of all with
those little
lucifers still
lurking in plain
sight among
them.