After speaking out against his heretical teaching and manipulation of Christians and then discovering he was sleeping with one of his interns, this man hailed by God TV and Morning Star Ministries has now married the women he committed adultery with and has been once again given air time on God TV. The moral decline within Christian leadership is disgraceful, he was, they say restored by Bill Johnston and Rick Joyner who not only saw it fit for him to divorce his wife but remarry the women he was sleeping with before putting him back in the pulpit. I was going to let this go and say nothing but I cannot. Im compelled to speak out against the immoral and abuse of grace that would place this man behind any pulpit. His restoration to Christ is not the issue but rather his restoration to full time ministry and elevated to Christian stardom is nothing more than scandalous.

What happened to integrity and the sacredness of being given such honor to stand as God’s ambassador, above reproach to share God’s Word. God TV has no moral conscience other than money and popularity with the mass of Christians who are manipulated for their money to support clowns in a circus who promise ’signs and wonders’ to keep the show on the road! His message continues to promote this mystical ability to enter the ’spiritual realm’ and download all the riches of heaven, what boat does this clown think that sensible spirit filled , bible believing christians came off!

I was embarrassed by the amount of Leaders who attended this man’s meetings hoping for a spiritual fix under the heading ‘impartation’ not a word used by Christ himself it won’t be long before his show hits the big top and pulls in leaders who have more discernment than a flip flop.

Here’s what Tozer had to say about such men;

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies … 2 Pet. 2:1

Whatever it may be in our Christian experience that originates outside of Scriptures should, for that very reason, be suspect until it can be shown to be in accord with them. If it should be found to be contrary to the Word of revealed truth no true Christian will accept it as being from God. However high the emotional content, no experience can be proved to be genuine unless we can find chapter and verse authority for it in Scriptures. “To the word and to the testimony” must always be the last and final proof.

Whatever is new or singular should also be viewed with caution until it can furnish scriptural proof of its validity. Throughout the twentieth century quite a number of unscriptural notions have gained acceptance among Christians by claiming that they were among truths that were to be revealed in the last days. The truth is that the Bible does not teach that there will be new light and advanced spiritual experiences in the latter days; it teaches the exact opposite! Nothing in Daniel or the New Testament epistles can be tortured into advocating the idea that we of the end of the Christian era shall enjoy light that was not known at its beginning. Beware of any man who claims to be wiser than the apostles or holier than the martyrs of the Early Church. The best way to deal with him is to rise and leave his presence!

by A.W. Tozer, 1950

Todd Bentley fits this description perfectly, I have no interest in entering a theological debate over this man because there is little theology except ‘wrong theology’ My solemn warning is to both Christians and Leaders to stay away from this man and those who align themselves no matter how big their church or show is they are charlatans.

Rev. Richard Taylor, Statement made 6/3/2010

(You are authorized to, reproduce, copy, distribute, use,  this statement as it is written without alterations)

We fail to Comprehend the Commitment

Mark 8:34-35 (New King James Version)

Take Up the Cross and Follow Him

34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Matthew Henry in his commentary describes the application of this verse so well;

“He now tells them the law of discipleship, that he was not to please himself, nor to decline afflictions for the Gospel”

The crown of life will not awarded to those who live on cheap grace who show no commitment to the cause of Christ and have no cost to pay.

A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown.”

(J C Ryle)

As we continue our sermon series at Victory Church this week I spoke on the Crown of Life found in Rev 2:10, otherwise known as the ‘Martyrs Crown’ Click HERE to listen

This saturday I will be speaking at Victory Church on the ‘Crown of Life’ recorded in the book of revelation chapter 2:10. The Crwon is often reffered to as the Martyrys crown. During my study of the scriptures I was struck by the thought of 3 failures of many Christians, here they are;

We fail to understand the cost

Christianity is not a club that you join and then seek all the benefits of membership. Christ calls us to pay a cost and that cost is to become His witnesses or as the original Greek text says ‘Martyrs’. The first century Christians understood the cost of being followers of Christ as many of them were tortured and executed for their faith. Herbert Lockyer in his book ‘Last words of saints and sinners’ reports the death of one such Martyr,

When told by his executionors to reproach Christ! It is at this point that Polycarp gives his famous response — “Eighty and six years have I now served Christ, and he has never done me the least wrong: How then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
The judge then angrily urges him to, “swear by the Genius of Caesar.” Polycarp refuses, The furious judge said, “Seeing that thou dispiseth the Wild Beasts, I will cause thee to be devoured by Fire, unless thou shall repent.” Polycarp answered,

“Thou threatenest me with Fire which burns for an hour, and so is extinguished; but knowest not the Fire of the Future Judgment of that Eternal Punishment which is reserved for the Ungodly. But why tarriest thou? Bring forth what thou wilt!”

They took Polycarp to the stake and were going to nail him there. He spoke up and said, “Let me alone as I am: For he who has given me strength to endure the Fire, will also enable me, without your securing me by nails, to stand without moving in the pile.”

The church in the 21st century has been seduced in the lap of modernism and social sciences. Today Pastor’s are more concerned of their understanding of anthropology and sociology more than theology! Our churches are consumed with seeker friendly ideas to draw the crowd and attempt to entertain them into the Kingdom.

The seduction has led us not to preach Christ and His hatred of sin but rather present a Jesus that is sympathetic to our sinful, selfish and arrogant soul that fails to take into account His holiness. Those who preach the truth are called, legalistic, fundamentalists, arrogant, judgmental, and and they fail to understand the times we live in. We are hailed as ‘old fashioned’ in the light of what they term ‘Gen X’, and so now a church that has carefully styled lighting, music, creative arts, and allows the consumer Christian to be satisfied with comfortable Christianity where the preacher never offends but rather gives a 35 minute motivational chat on how to be rich, successful, and healthy.

We have sacrificed truth on the altar of contemporariness which is another word for compromise to appeal to the ‘unchurched’ which is not even a biblical word so we use replacement words to not offend. When we speak of the unchurched we should say ’sinner’ when speaking of sin we should not call it ‘mistakes’ or ‘problems’.

Relevancy has replaced revelation, we have forgotten our sacred duty as preachers and treated the pulpit as a place of seeking to be relevant to people more then presenting the revelation of God to the people. Im tired of the plastic, short cut Christianity that many are being called to live. Pastors have become business gurus, motivational speakers, comedians, social entrepreneurs and counsellors but hear me we are called to preach the Word!

Each week as we rise to that pulpit we should as Campbell Morgan often told himself when ascending to the pulpit he would quote “I am led as a lamb to the slaughter”

It’s time for Pastors to repent, return to preaching truth and then maybe we would see the greatest move of God in the 21st Century.

I was listening to that great hymn of the Church ‘In Christ Alone’ and the words, ’till on that cross when Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied’ reminded me again of the work of Christ on the cross. I began to consider what Christ came to both say and to do as he embarked upon a mission to save humanity.

Christ came to;

Reveal the Father

John 5:30 (Darby Translation)

I cannot do anything of myself; as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me.

Jesus declared that He came to do the will of the Father, what was the Fathers will? To reveal His love for all people , in all places, at all times.

Redeem Mankind

His mission in revealing the Father’s love was demonstrated through His death on the cross to bring redemption to mankind. Man no longer needs to be held captive to sin’s power as the hymn puts it, ’sins curse has lost it’s grip on me, for I am His and He is mine’.

Reconcile us to God

In redeeming us He reconciled us to God. We are no longer alienated from God but we are brought into a relationship through Jesus Christ;

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (King James Version)

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

And so my thought comes to a conclusion yet His work through us continues, to reveal the Father, redeem mankind and reconcile us to God.