Friday, December 09, 2005
A new move of God?
I did a lot of reading after I first professed faith in Christ, but I regret that the stuff I read wasn't particularly sound. I read lots of stuff about end-time prophecy, cults, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but what especially struck my fancy was the stuff I read about revival. I found the accounts of alleged revivals in various places--Asuza Street, Wales, Indonesia, etc.--to be fascinating and exciting. Compared with my relatively dull and boring life, I thought that it would be wonderful to be used by God during a revival.
For several years, I did my best to get myself into the best position to find the right revival. I hung out in the charismatic circles that were at least as revival mad as I was, attending lots of special "revival" meetings, and I prayed with great fervency for revival. I even received dreams and visions of a revival that was supposedly going to come.
For a time, my hopes were high enough to provide me with a considerable amount of "steam" to keep me chasing after them, but in time, I became discouraged and gave up the chase. Although I'd checked out all sorts of promising leads, every fresh move of God that I encountered failed to live up to its billing. It was tough to give up my dreams, but in retrospect I'm so glad I got off that roller coaster when I did, for in the years following my disillusionment, a number of alleged revivals swept the Charismatic Movement. They had names such as the Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville Outpouring. In each instance, the boosters shared amazing tales of what God was doing, but yet one after another, each revival fizzled out and came to nothing. More than that, each of these "revivals" left considerable spiritual wreckage in its wake, understandably so if one believes that God Almighty is doing something only to find out that the whole thing had little or nothing to do with Him. I never found my revival, but I still came close to abandoning the faith. I can imagine that if I had found what I'd hoped for only to come to see it as a counterfeit, my devastation would have been far greater.
Thus, I was grieved to hear that a new "revival" had begun, this time in Kansas City. According to the account I read, this revival had been prophesied a number of years ago by the so-called Kansas City Prophets, but was delayed by some "mistakes" that had been made. Although I don't know all of the details of what's going on with this "revival", I'm not afraid to plainly state that I know that it's going to turn out to be a lie and a sham. The prophets on whose word this thing is founded showed themselves to be false prophets years ago: they boasted of their high--60% or so--accuracy, disregarding the Biblical standard of 100% accuracy for a true prophet. Scripture makes it plain that God speaks only through those prophets who accurately and faithfully proclaim His Word, so we can be 100% confident that God did not speak to the KC Prophets. Thus, whatever is taking place in KC, it is certain that God is not behind it and that He is not blessing it. Since God is not behind it, it will come to no good end, leaving disillusionment in its wake. Far from being a move of God, such a revival can be only a judgment against the foolish people who run after fanciful tales that are not in accord with Scripture. Although exciting experiences may well come to those who plunge into this revival, you may mark my words: the end of the thing will not be pretty and will bring nothing but dishonor to the name of Christ.
Should God have any people of His amongst the KC crowd, I pray that He will have mercy on them and grant them a way of escape from the deception and disappointment that will come. As for the ravenous wolves who are leading this mockery, I pray that God will make them willing to repent of their wickedness and turn to Christ, and that if He's not so willing that He will speedily expose their lies and discredit their "ministries." A false revival is no blessing from God; indeed, it is a curse against false doctrine and practice. I pray that this counterfeit revival would come to a speedy end!
For several years, I did my best to get myself into the best position to find the right revival. I hung out in the charismatic circles that were at least as revival mad as I was, attending lots of special "revival" meetings, and I prayed with great fervency for revival. I even received dreams and visions of a revival that was supposedly going to come.
For a time, my hopes were high enough to provide me with a considerable amount of "steam" to keep me chasing after them, but in time, I became discouraged and gave up the chase. Although I'd checked out all sorts of promising leads, every fresh move of God that I encountered failed to live up to its billing. It was tough to give up my dreams, but in retrospect I'm so glad I got off that roller coaster when I did, for in the years following my disillusionment, a number of alleged revivals swept the Charismatic Movement. They had names such as the Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville Outpouring. In each instance, the boosters shared amazing tales of what God was doing, but yet one after another, each revival fizzled out and came to nothing. More than that, each of these "revivals" left considerable spiritual wreckage in its wake, understandably so if one believes that God Almighty is doing something only to find out that the whole thing had little or nothing to do with Him. I never found my revival, but I still came close to abandoning the faith. I can imagine that if I had found what I'd hoped for only to come to see it as a counterfeit, my devastation would have been far greater.
Thus, I was grieved to hear that a new "revival" had begun, this time in Kansas City. According to the account I read, this revival had been prophesied a number of years ago by the so-called Kansas City Prophets, but was delayed by some "mistakes" that had been made. Although I don't know all of the details of what's going on with this "revival", I'm not afraid to plainly state that I know that it's going to turn out to be a lie and a sham. The prophets on whose word this thing is founded showed themselves to be false prophets years ago: they boasted of their high--60% or so--accuracy, disregarding the Biblical standard of 100% accuracy for a true prophet. Scripture makes it plain that God speaks only through those prophets who accurately and faithfully proclaim His Word, so we can be 100% confident that God did not speak to the KC Prophets. Thus, whatever is taking place in KC, it is certain that God is not behind it and that He is not blessing it. Since God is not behind it, it will come to no good end, leaving disillusionment in its wake. Far from being a move of God, such a revival can be only a judgment against the foolish people who run after fanciful tales that are not in accord with Scripture. Although exciting experiences may well come to those who plunge into this revival, you may mark my words: the end of the thing will not be pretty and will bring nothing but dishonor to the name of Christ.
Should God have any people of His amongst the KC crowd, I pray that He will have mercy on them and grant them a way of escape from the deception and disappointment that will come. As for the ravenous wolves who are leading this mockery, I pray that God will make them willing to repent of their wickedness and turn to Christ, and that if He's not so willing that He will speedily expose their lies and discredit their "ministries." A false revival is no blessing from God; indeed, it is a curse against false doctrine and practice. I pray that this counterfeit revival would come to a speedy end!
