In order to recognize these FALSE, FAKE, FIBBING preachers I want to preach about the gift of DISCERNMENT.
The gift of Discernment is one of the nine gifts that that we find in the Bible.
Look at I Cor. 12:7-10 We read, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.”
Question? Are all nine of the gifts of the Spirit still in operation today?
No!
Why Not?
Remember, the christians in the early church did not have a Bible as we have today.
God communicated with his church in four ways…
• The prophets,
• The apostle,
• Divers kinds of Tongues (languages)
• Interpretation of tongues to God’s people.
Today we have a Bible that is complete and there is no need for these gifts of communication.
Today God communicates to His people through the Word of God. And Paul instructed every preacher to “PREACH THE WORD!!!”
To handle the Word of God is a serious responsibility. That is; no one should:
• CLAIM THAT GOD SAID SOMETHING HE DID NOT SAY.
• TAKE AWAY SOMETHING HE DID SAY.
I would not like it (nor would you) if someone was going around…
• Adding something to what I said.
• Taking away from something I said.
And God does not like it either!!!
Look at THIS WARNING in Revelation 22:18-19 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Again, it is a serious thing to preach God’s Word.
Illus: All over this nation we have churches that have sprung up because one day a man or a woman decided to start a church for one reason or another.
• They go on the internet and for ten to fifteen dollars get ordained.
• And for a little more from the internet they get a college degree that is not worth the paper it is written on.
Preachers who do not know what the scriptures say often take scripture after scripture out of context because their knowledge of God’s Word is very limited.
Even when they hear the Word of God preached they do not know it is the truth.
For example, when you preach that some of the nine gifts are not in operation today, not knowing the scriptures, some are quick to say, “You do not believe in the gift of miracles and healings…DO YOU?”
Yes, I certainly believe in the gifts of miracles and healings; but not in the way it is being done today.
Illus: I do not see anywhere in the scriptures where it is taught I have to send some tv preachers a thousand dollars to get my healing.
Yes, I whole heartedly believe…
• God miraculously heals people every day.
• God still does amazing miracles, signs, and wonders every day.
God does these things but not through mankind.
Some of the gifts in the apostolic church are NOT in operation today!!!
For example, the Word of God clearly teaches that the gift of tongues is not for today. The Bible says “TONGUES SHALL CEASE!!!”
In fact, if you will notice in your King James Bible in I Cor. 14, everytime “tongues” is mentioned it is listed as “UNKNOWN tongues.” And notice, the word UNKNOWN is always in italics.
Why?
The translators of the King James Bible put UNKNOWN in italics because they were being honest with you, as a reader they want you to know it was not in the orginal manuscripts.
You can see that in verses 2,4,13,14, and 27, “UNKNOWN” is not in the orginal manuscripts.
“TONGUES” IN THE BIBLE MEANS LANGUAGES, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS UNKNOWN TONGUES IN THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS.
WHY DID GOD GIVE THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH THE GIFT OF TONGUES?
For two reasons:
(1) First, spreading of the gospel. The Bible tells us that every man heard the gospel in their own tongue.
Pentecost attracted Jews from all over the world to Jerusalem to celebrate the annual festival. They heard the apostles’ message in their native languages
Look at Acts 2:9-11, mentions Some that are mentioned were by name - "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs"
God said in Matthew 16:15 the gates of hell would not prevent his church but the first obstacle was a language problem and on Pentecost they heard the gospel in their own language and three thousand people got saved.
God gave the gift of tongues for another reason…
(2) Second, for a sign.
We read in II Cor. 14:22, “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe”
When these folks heard them speak in their own language they knew it was from God. And THEY BELIEVED IN CHRIST and three thousand got saved at Pentecost!!!
However, in I Cor. 13:8 the Bible tells us specifically that tongues SHALL CEASE.
Illus: I always find it interesting for those who claim that the gift of tongues is for today and that they have the same thing they had at Pentecost that before they send missionaries to the foreign fields they have to send their missionaries to language school to learn the language of the people they are being sent to. On the day of Pentecost they super naturally began to speak in the language of these different nationalities on the day of Pentecost.
There is a need today for some gifts and not for others. The Bible makes that clear…
Look at 1 Corinthians 13:8 “Charity never faileth (always a need for charity): but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”
Now when you read that verse to those who believe that tongues SHALL CEASE they are quick to point out this same verse mentions that KNOWLEDGE SHALL VANISH AWAY.
IS THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE IN OPERATION TODAY?
Yes, because there is a need for that gift today.
HAS THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE VANISHED?
No, absolutely not!!!
Why not? Look at I Cor. 13:12. In this same chapter we read in, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
WHAT IS PAUL TELLING US?
He is telling us, “NOW WE SEE THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY?
But in the future world (Heaven) we shall know distinctly and clearly, and then the gift of knowledge which we now possess as a gift will appear so dim and obscure, that it will vanish away.
Notice, the word for tongues will CEASE. When it comes to knowledge God used a different word for the gift of knowledge…”VANISH away.”
WHEN?
God’s Word tells us, But when that which is perfect is come (Christ Coming), then that which is in part shall be done away.
Some of these gifts have ceased and one day even knowledge will VANISH in that grand and glorius place call heaven.
But another gift that is still in operation today is the gift of DISCERNMENT.
That is, in this age we Christians need the gift of discernment more than ever.
WHY DO WE NEED THS GIFT TODAY?
We need the gift of discernment TODAY to be able to…
I. RECOGNIZE FALSE PROPHETS
Look at 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Today it seems that some christians are the most gullible people on earth. They are quick to accept ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!!!
God said we are to TRY the spirits!!!
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger in Bible college, he was taking a course in homiletics. This class took place after the morning chapel service. The professor, Tom Wilson, to teach the young preachers some things about preaching would often take apart some of the things that the preacher had preached in the morning chapel service.
When Dr. Belger first heard the professor take apart the sermon they just heard he thought this was the most terrible thing he could do.
But later he realized this was to help them not to make those same mistakes.
This is what John is telling us as Christians, we should do. We should not just accept everything we hear the truth.
We are to EXAMINE (Try) what is said.
WHY?
The scriptures make it clear that in the last days there would be many false prophets.
We are to TRY the spirits (that is examine closely to see if what the preachers say lines up with the Word of God)
WHY IS IT THAT GOD HAS TO WARN US ABOUT FALSE PROPHETS?
Because false prophets are deceptive and dangerous!!!
HOW ARE THEY DECEPTIVE AND DANGEROUS?
It because they use the same words we use in our church like PRAYER, MIRACLES, HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS, AND BIBLE and many think because they hear these same words we use they are ministers of the gospel.
These false prophets they mix their damnable doctrine in with God’s Word. They tickle the ears of what some want to hear.
1) This is why you see these hucksters, like Benny Hinn, who prayed for a person and told him the devil would never bother him again. NEVER! YOU CAN NOT FIND THAT IN THE SCRIPTURES.
2) On one program Benny Hinn was seen taking his coat off on national television program. He started swinging it at people and they fell down as if the spirit of God had knocked them down. YOU CAN NOT FIND THAT IN THE SCRIPTURES.
3) This is like the so called their Toronto revival and the Lakeland meeting people were crawling on the floor laughing like lunatics. You can not find this in the Bible.
4) This is like when those in these same revival meetings crawling on the floor and barking like a dog. You can not find this in the Bible.
5) This is like when these false prophets will do what they call “slaying people in the spirit.” You can not find this in the Bible.
You can not find any of these foolish things in the Bible.
Yet there are thousands at these meetings claim to be Christians; swallowing everything that is taking place HOOK LINE AND SINKER!
They claim to be Christians but why aren’t examning these false prophets if they knew God’s Word says they would know what these false prophets are doing is not scriptural.
Back in the Old Testament time if a prophet prophesied something and it did not come true he was stoned to death. If this was still being practiced today all of these hucksters would be stoned to death.
We need the gift of discernment to be able to recognize these false prophets.
They take two of the gifts and are constantly ADDING TO THE SCRIPTURES IN TWO WAYS…
(1) THE GIFT OF TONGUE
They can say anything they want to say by ADDING things to the Word of God by claiming what you hear is from almighty god.
In the New Testament “tongues” were languages that people at Pentecost could understand. But when you challenge them about the tongues, they say it is UNKNOWN TONGUES.
Listen, God would never want us to put our faith in something that is UNKNOWN!!!
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “UNKNOWN TONGUES.” The Bible only speaks of LANGUAGES, not UNKNOWN TONGUES.
The second way they ADD to the Word of God is through…
(2) INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES.
After they claim you hear “TONGUES” then someone interprets the “tongue” and you are supposed to believe everything the interpreter says came from God.
God gave the gift of tongues which is languages back to them so the people from different countries would understand the gospel.
But God no longer communicates with the gift of tongues and interpetation BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE THE INSPIRED, INFALLIBLE, PLENARY WORD OF GOD.
It is a dangerous thing when someone ADDS TO THE WORD OF GOD OR TAKES AWAY FROM THE WORD OF GOD.
Revelation 22:18-19 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Do we still have prophets today?
There are no prophets today in the same sense as there were under the old covenant and in the apostolic church.
Again, before the canon of Scripture was complete, God used prophets, apostles, tongues and interpretation of tongues to communicate to His people.
Today we ministers preach the prophetic Word of God that the prophets gave us.
Again, no preacher should ever preach anything but what is in the Word of God.
Why in a congregation where everybody speaks English would they speak in what they call unknown tongues and then give it back in English. GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION.
We have everything that God wants to say to us in the Bible and this is why Paul told Timothy PREACH THE WORD!
We do not have prophets today!
We do not have apostles today.
Why?
Because one of the requirements to be an apostle is to be able to say “I saw personally the resurrected Christ after he was crucified.”
We certainly do not have anyone can say that today!
Illus: However, today we have one man that claims he is an apostle (Gino Jennings) when he preaches he says…
• Women who wear false eye lashes are going to hell
• Women who wear mini skirts are going to hell (He might be right about that)
• Women who wear split skirts are going to hell
• Women who wear tight pants are going to hell
• Women who wear dresses that show cleavage are going to hell
• Women who wear lipstick are going to hell
• Women who paint their toe nails are going to hell
• Women who wear wigs are going to hell
Now listen, while I might not like to see some of these things on a woman that he mentions I can not see where most of these things are even mention in the scriptures.
He proudly declares he has never been to seminary and it is clear he has not been when you hear him preach.
The Bible clearly states we are saved by GRACE (Ephesians 2:8-9) but most of his preaching is based on WORKS and thousands listen to him claim to be Christians as he spews this garbage out! If they knew the Word of God and had the gift of discernment they would not sit there and listen to this garbage he is preaching.
In his preaching he just ADDS these things to the scriptures and according to him most women are going to hell.
We do not have prophets and apostles today!!!
HOWEVER, we have an abundance of false prophets today.
We have many false prophets whose messages appeal to the vulnerable.
WHO ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE?
The poor, sick and uneducated.
• False prophets know that many of the poor desire to have wealth. And these hucksters tell the poor to send you a thousand dollars and God will bless you with wealth.
Where do you find that in the scriptures!!!(Boy! Inflation has really hit hard, I remember when they only wanted you to send them a hundred dollars!)
• They know that the sick want to be healed.
Illus: One of these false prophets (Mike Murdoch) stated that if a sick person would send him a thousand dollars he promised him a year of good health. He said God told him to say that. God did not tell him to say that the devil did!!!
They are getting rich off of the sick…
Their claim to healing is as FAKE AS A THREE DOLLAR BILL!!!
Illus: Have you noticed these fake healers are always claiming to heal someone that has an internal problem but never an external problem that we can see or document.
• When is the last time you saw someone who was truly blind (Someone you know as a fact they were blind) who had their sight restored.
• When is the last time you saw someone who was truly deaf (Someone you know as a fact they were deaf) who had their hearing restored.
• When is the last time you saw someone who was truly disable to speak (Someone you know as a fact was deaf) who had their speech restored.
God can still do miraculous things whatever and whenever He wants to.
Illus: God is greatly using Justin Peters on Youtube to expose some of these false Prophets. He attended one of their meeting and many sick people were told they were healed. He got the name and telephone numbers of some of them after the meeting that were told they were healed and contacted them later and they were still sick and one of them had died within a week.
I believe in miracles but I do not believe in these FAKE HEALERS like we see on televisions today.
Today we need the GIFT OF DISCERNMENT and we know this gift is still in operation today because God’s Word tells us In 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
The reason this gift is so important is because we use discernment to know:
• Good from evil;
• Light from darkness;
• Truth from lies.
Again, to have the spirit of discernment is to the ability to judge well.
We get our English word "aesthetic" from the Greek word for discernment, meaning: “moral perception, insight, and the practical application of knowledge.”
First Timothy 4:1 tells us: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”
Thus, we are urged in Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
The gift of discernment help us guard against false prophets.
Illus: Have you ever been watching so-called religious stations on television and you saw a program in which one of these hucksters was preaching and there were thousands and thousands of people sitting there listening to false prophets?
Hucksters like Jesse Duplantis claiming he has been to heaven and Jesus asked him for his opinions. Isn’t that the opposite of the scriptures that teaches we are suppose to go to Jesus and He tells us his OPINION?
There are thousands and thousands sitting under the deceptions of these hucksters but not one person would be there if the people had the gift of discernment.
Satan is an artist at disguises.
• For every good thing God provides, Satan produces a counterfeit.
• Where there is Christ, there is the Antichrist.
• Where there is the gospel, there is are false “gospels.”
The person with the gift of discerning of the spirits has an uncanny ability to detect the right from wrong.
• He can spot a phony,
• He can sift wheat,
• And he can “smell a rat.”
The gift OF DISCERNMENT is MORE NEEDED NOW THAN EVER BEFORE!!!
Many times, in our Christian experience, we are too quick to embrace anything and everything that comes our way in the name of Christianity.
Illus: Imagine that you walk into a bank and:
• You see that all of the customers are laying on the floor
• The only person standing is a guy with a ski mask over his face and a gun in his hand.
• You also see that the bank teller is panicking and feverishly stuffing all of the cash from the cash drawer into a bag.
What would your keen insight and good judgment tell you about what is happening inside that bank?
We all need discernment.
Illus: If you have a certain type of color blindness you can’t tell a red light from a green light so you can’t discern whether to stop or go.
That, of course, is why they standardized the positions of the lights with red at the top and green at the bottom.
There are actually two ways of interpreting scriptures.
(1) The most proper method is known as exegesis, or “reading out” of Scripture. This is where you read a section of the Bible and you ask what it says.
The assumption is that God has already communicated what we need to know, and we just need to discover it by studying the text.
(2) The other method is known as eisegesis, or “reading into” Scripture.
For example, the passage says nothing about it, but we might imagine it anyway.
The trouble comes, of course, when we pretend that our insertion is the truth. We’re adding our ideas to God’s ideas.
But there is another way of interpreting scripture that the false prophets use.
(3) It is Narcigesis!!!
This is what happens when we put ourselves into the text.
For example, Narcigesis makes Scripture about me.
Illus: For example, In Joel Osteen’s church Jesse Duplantis says he went to heaven and he was talking to Jesus and Jesus looked really discouraged and he asked Jesus why was He sad. Jesus told him why and Jesse cancelled all his appointments that day and told the Lord he was going to cheer Him up. He told the Lord, “Come here, let me hug you.” He spent all this time in heaven encouraging the Lord and the Lord was so gratetful and sent him back to earth. THIS IS NARCIGESIS!
That is pure adulterated blasphemy and a pack of lies.
Today we live in an age when we need the gift of discernment TO RECOGNIZE FALSE PROPHETS WHEN THE WORD OF GOD SAYS THERE WOULD BE MANY IN THE LAST DAYS!!!
Illus: Joel Osteen was asked by Ophra Winfra, “Is Jesus is the only way to heaven?” Rather than to offend anyone he said, “Well, rather not say, I will leave that up to the Lord to judge.” Listen, Jesus said,
• “I am the door; there is no other way.”
• “Except repent ye shall all like wise perish”
What is wrong with these people today who claim to be save and can not recognize these FALSE, FAKE, FIBBING preachers.
Also, we need the gift of discernment to recognize…
II. FALSE CHURCHES
In today’s world many believe that one church is as good as another. THIS IS NOT TRUE!
That’s ridiculous, is…
• One doctor is not as good as another
• One builder is not as good as another
• One plumber is not as good as another
Why on God’s green earth would a person think one church is as good as another.
In the book of Revelation 3:14-22 we have the seven churches. These seven churches represent the church age from the New Testament Church until the coming of Christ.
As you look at these seven churches some of them are good and some of them are bad.
1) The first church Ephesus was a church that had their first love wane. They needed a fresh love.
2) The second church Smyrna. This was the church that needed courage because they were a persecuted church.
3) Third, the church at Pergamos. This was a church, much like today, it had a problem with tolerating sin.
4) Fourth church was church Thyatira. This was the permissive Church
5) Fifth church was Sardis, the dead church. They had a few saved, but they had died in their orthodoxy and rituals, and allowed carnality.
6) Sixth church was the church of Philadelphia. Revival began to sweep around the world. This is pictured by the church of Philadelphia. The only church of which God did not scold in some way.
7) Seventh church is the church of Laodocea. This is the church about which God had nothing good to say.
These seven churches in the scripture are proof there are good and bad churches. John mentions them by name.
No, one church is not as good as another during the seven church age, nor is one church today as good as another.
The Lord had only one church that He had something good to say about…the church of Philadelphia.
And today God’s people need the gift of discernment to be able to look at some churches and see that God is very displeased with them
Just because a building may look like a church building does not mean it is THE HOUSE OF GOD.
There are many good Bible preaching, teaching churches in this city. If you attend these churches:
• During the song service you will hear songs that speaks about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
• You will hear in Sunday school lessons from the Word of God.
• You will hear sermons from the Word of God.
• You will meet some of the most godly people who walk in shoe leather.
But these things are not enough for the “FRIENDLY SEEKERS CHURCH.”
There are churches in this city if you were to attend you would experience the same thing you went to in a night club.
• They have their go go girls on the platform they call worship leaders.
• They dress like they are going to a night club.
• They have loud music
• They have mirror balls spinning
• They have very little lighting
• They have fog machines
• They have preachers with holes in their jeans and wearing a T-shirt
And they call this church.
When you have the gift of discernment you know this is not a church but a hell hole.
It is the will of God for every child of God to have the gift of discernment.
HOW DO YOU GET THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT?
(1) Ask for it. “We have not because we ask not.”
We can pray for a heart of discernment as the Psalmist did in Psalm 119:25: “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.”
When we pray for discernment, we are to ask for it in faith, like we would ask for anything (Matthew 21:22).
(2) DEPEND ON THE HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE YOU
We never have to make a decision in life alone; we have the holy spirit with us to guide us.
Look at 1 Corinthians 2:10-14, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
(3)Another way we can discern what is right and what is wrong is by kinowing the Word of God.
Everyday you need to take time to read and study the Word of God.
You need to come to church to LEARN not LOOK. When you come to church to hear and learn the Word of God you learn what God’s Word says and does not say.
(4)Godly counsel
Do not assume because someone hangs out a sign that advertises GODLY COUNSEL that you are going to get godly counsel.
WHY DO THEY ADVERTISE GODLY COUNSEL?
Because they know you would not go for counseling if they hung out a sign that said “UNGODLY COUNSELING” So they hang out a sign that says “GODLY COUNSELING.}
If you are attending a Bible preaching and Bible teaching church there should be some godly person there that knows the Lord and and that knows the Word of God enough to give you some godly counseling. (If there isn’t someone there you should find you another church.)
Conclusion:
It is absolutely heart breaking to see and hear what is taking place in the world today in the so called Christian world.
We see THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS in these stadiums packed out by men and women who have been led astray.
We live in a very dangerous age in which we need the gift of discernment.
You might be saying preacher, no false prophet could lead me astray!!!
You might be thinking that but the next time you see these thousands in these aduditoriums they once thought the same thing you are now thinking.
We need the gift of discernment in operation today in our lives for many reasons, but especially today so that we can…
I. RECOGNIZE FALSE PROPHETS
II. RECOGNIZE FALSE CHURCHES
Each day we’re confronted with situations that require a discerning spirit. We live in a world that mixes truth with error and attempts to blur the line between good and evil. But as children of God, we can be protected from deception.
Many churches today do not even give an altar call for the lost to come to Christ. But lost person I want you to know this church does and I want you to get up out of your seat and come down and let me pray with you to come to know this wonderful Savior that died for your sins…PLEASE COME!!!
