Be aware of strange movements…
Filed in General |Journal,
As a rule I don’t do much writing on the occultic side of false movements. I find it more 
productive to simply keep the true message of the cross ever before the people. I agree with C. H. Spurgeon, who said that the gospel has no need to be defended. Like a caged lion, just turn it lose and it will take care of itself.
And I certainly take my stand with the Apostle Paul, who said,
“But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” - Gal6:14 nasb
My warning is to true believers who may become sidetracked …
The church has always had to deal with false movements and false Christianities. Both the prophets of old, the Lord Jesus Himself, and the apostles all state that in the last days the false prophets, false teachers, and false movements will abound.
Keep in mind that the false prophets the Bible speaks of are those who prophesy in the name of the Lord. In the case of New Testament Christianity, the false prophets will freely and abundantly use the name of Jesus as a drawing card in their deceptions.
These strange movements also draw their attendance on false signs and wonders. The movements are emotionally driven, psychologically damaging, spiritually dangerous, and negatively charged with ungodly messages. In these movements it is easy to get caught up in forms of mass subjective hypnosis where people are led to believe in something that is not true.
The apostle Paul called the preaching of ‘lies’ the hallmark of false movements. When the apostle wrote about the coming of antichrist, this is what he said:
“For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.” - 2Th 2:11-13 NASB
The Greek for ‘deluding influence’ speaks of an activity of error. Paul says this deluding influence will be a judgment on those who have rejected the true message of the cross and have turned to lying messages, lying wonders, and deceiving spirits. He further writes,
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” - 1Ti4:1 nasb
Now listen carefully to how the prophet Jeremiah describes the last days:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD.
“The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will clearly understand it. ‘I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.” - Jer 23:16-22 NASB
Jesus warned about those who say ‘Christ is here”…
Beware of those who say, ‘The anointing is here.’ ‘The power is here.’ ‘The special prophet of God is here.’ ‘The river of power is here.’ ‘The great move of God is here.’
Jesus said,
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” - Mat 24:23-27 NASB
Here are a couple of informative YouTube videos. See what you think. The first is by an ex faith healer. He explains how these false prophets do what they do. The second one makes a comparison between the supposedly Christian movements and pagan demonic religions.
I will leave this to judge for yourself…
Do these clips upset you? Do they make you angry? Did you see anything in these film clips that speak of historical Chrisianity? What did you see?
What you saw were actions totally opposite to how the Bible says the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The apostle said that God’s love, that is, the inspired love of the Holy Spirit that fills our hearts will never act in an unbecoming way. (Cf. 1Co13:5)
No where in the Bible do you ever see where a true believer acts in such a manner of madness without self control. In fact one of the fruit of the Spirit is called ’self control.’ The Holy Spirit does not jump on people and jerk them around like puppets on a string.
So, what kind of spirit does this?
And now for the good news…
The good news is that if you are a true believer, and if you have been involved in any of these kinds of movements, then there are two things at play in your life. One is that you already have ’red lights’ going off in your spirit. These red lights are cautions from the Holy Spirit telling you to get out, to flee and don’t look back.
The second thing at play is a promise given to all believers by the Lord Himself. The Lord does not want His people to fear the enemy or to have a fear of losing their salvation. One of the all encompassing promises in the Bible, is where Jesus said,
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” - Joh 10:27-29 NASB
Paul gave a summary in what we are to follow. He wrote the Corinthian church about their being misled with false gospels, false spirits, and even a false Jesus. He said,
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” - 2Co11:3 nasb
Did you catch it? Our faith is to always rest on a simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
And so the time has come for me to move on. Hope this entry has given you food for thought. My final caution is simple, ‘Don’t chase after strange movements.’
Blessings,
Buddy
In the 2nd video clip towards the end it showed a lady that had a dress on. When she was on the floor her skirt was hiked up to a very immodest position.
The Lord would never allow anyone man or woman to be immodestly exposed.
Thanks Lois S.,
Good point. The lady in the picture was involved in paganism. But it shows how foolish people can become when they get caught up in such madness. This can easily be applied ‘emotional-driven’ movements today, where someone was appointed to cover women’s legs when they fell out.
It is a sad commentary on what is said to be of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks for the note.
Buddy
Bro Buddy these clips speak for itself. I myself had times (thank God not many) where i actet out of my normal behavor. my eyes have now been opend to this and i see that it is not of God, but you know they explain it as biblical because on the day of pentecost people said they where drunk.(meaning they must have been acting strangely). sabine
Sabine,
The behavior of the apostolic band on the day of Pentecost had nothing to do with madness, jerking, jumping, running, and all the emotional tirades that you see in certain groups today. What the people heard and saw was boldness of speech coming from a group of 120, but in languages of all the nations who had gathered. The only explanation they could come up with was, ‘these people must be drunk.’
Actually this was an off-the-cuff remark. However, the primary sign of the Spirit filling anyone in the Scriptures is the ability to speak for God in a message that is sure and clear. For one thing a drunk does not speak coherently. The believers at Pentecost were “speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” (Ac2:11)
Sis, I am so glad that the Lord has opened your eyes.
Blessings,
Buddy
Excellent post, Bro. Buddy. I fear that those in the UPC and associated organizations who see these videos will justify it by saying, “Yeah, but the folks in those clips didn’t have the Truth.” The question that I would ask them to ask themselves is the same question that I was forced to ask myself several years ago when I was still in the UPC: If the manifestations are the same, how do I know that I’m not the one who is deceived? On what grounds do I separate myself from them? Because I have the Holy Ghost (tongues)? But they have that too. And the argument that Satan has a counterfeit for everything that’s real does not work very well here–especially since the NT never records Satan having the ability to imitate the true gift of tongues.
Josh,
You went right to the heart of emotional-driven movements. Our emotions are poor substitutes for what is truly from the Lord. Emotions can be manipulated. People can even become drunk on their own emotions. But like drunkenness, when you wake up mostly what you have left are the questions, ‘What did I do?’
However, the question you asked yourself is being asked by a great many people today. For me it was 1971. Took three years to make the transition. I’ve never looked back.
Thanks for sharing,
Buddy
Bro. Buddy, thanks for the wonderful enlightenment of what is happening in the churches today. I have another question for you with regards to another phenomenon that is occurring in some organizations today. The embracing of the “Jewish” roots to the point of “legalism” and other Jewish tradition in Christianity. I took the time to comment on another blog site to a young man who insisted that we are not in a “new” covenant, and therefore “grafted” into the nation of Israel through the sacrifice of Jesus. Allow me to show you what his comments were and perhaps you may want to address them.
The only thing that brought judgment was the law of sin and death, NOT the Covenant God made with the Jews. The Covenant was GOOD. It was not evil as you suppose. It was not legalistic. The Jews as a whole did not teach that one had to keep the whole Law in order to be saved. They knew it was given by God’s grace, because God wanted them to know how to live at peace with one another and with Him. He wanted them to know how to live in order to be happy and blessed. It was not given with the attitude of “Here! Keep it or you will be judged and go to hell!” It was given with the attitude of “I love you and want you to live an abundant life, and be blessed, and live at peace with your neighbor and with me.”
“You make it sound like it was a curse. “The ‘old’ covenant only brought judgment!” God’s Law and God’s Covenant are not to bring curses. The only ‘judgment’ they brought was the judgment Yeshua took upon Himself.
The original language does not promote the idea of a “new” covenant or an “old” covenant. There is but one Covenant. The only thing that changed about the Covenant was the Sacrifice. That’s actually what the original language and context says is new.
The old sacrifice was the blood of lambs and bulls. The new Sacrifice was that of the Perfect Lamb, God’s flesh, the man Yeshua. His Blood is what enables the Law of God to be written on our hearts, instead of on tablets of stone. Same Law, my friend. The Law is the witness, the written terms of the same Covenant. Same Law = same Covenant. Instead of being written on stones, it’s written on hearts and minds now.
There was nothing Gentile (pagan) about God’s plan for the world, but His plan was most certainly Hebraic, as He brought it forth through the Jews. They were the ones His seed came into the world through, and their culture is the one He revealed Himself to the world through.
I really have no desire to argue with you over this. I’ll simply ask you to not make the mistake that Paul talked about by cursing the tree you were grafted into. Attempting to divorce yourself from your root will only lead you into separation from the truth. Please don’t make that mistake.”
Is this not what Paul warned against: “the falling away?”
Daniel,
You brought up some very valid issues. I’ll address them by linking to some of what you shared.
… [Daniel] I have another question for you with regards to another phenomenon that is occurring in some organizations today. The embracing of the “Jewish” roots to the point of “legalism” and other Jewish tradition in Christianity.
[Buddy] Good question. I’ll share more on this as we go along. The short side is that the ‘Jewish roots’ movement is simply off course with the truth of the gospel and of the new covenant. That movement is fraught with error. It tends towards cultism.
… [Daniel] I took the time to comment on another blog site to a young man who insisted that we are not in a “new” covenant, and therefore “grafted” into the nation of Israel through the sacrifice of Jesus. Allow me to show you what his comments were and perhaps you may want to address them.
[Buddy] I’ll address his comments in a bit. But what you shared by itself shows this young man to be seriously impaired in his understanding. He is possibly another charismatic looking for a new high to tie his wagon to. These type movements are filled with unstable, restless souls. When the new becomes old, they are off on a new search.
They do not understand the gospel. Paul addresses this as being immature. He said, “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tosses here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” (Eph4:14 nasb)
Now let’s look at what the young man had to say —
… [Young man] The only thing that brought judgment was the law of sin and death, NOT the Covenant God made with the Jews.
[My comments] This young man is simply on a romantic venture with his thinking about the Jews. I don’t want to get too technical, but there never has been a Jewish covenant. The term Jew was a later adaption that was tacked on the tribe of Judah. Over time it enlarged itself.
The covenant was made with Israel after she came out of Egypt. And the covenant of Moses most certainly had a curse(s) attached to it. This young man needs to read his Bible. The term ‘curse’ or one of its derivatives is found 59 times in Exodus through Deuteronomy. These four books deal directly with the Law of Moses. Most if not all these ‘curses’ are directly attached to the Law of Moses.
… [Young man] The Covenant was GOOD. It was not evil as you suppose.
[My comments] No one ever said the covenant was evil. Paul himself said that it was good. The problem is that the covenant of Law was given to only one nation. Its purpose was designed to bring the people to Christ so that they could be justified by faith in Him.
The Law of Moses was a land-covenant. The only place it could be kept would be in the land of Israel before Christ. It was designed for an earthly people. The covenant of Law was both a national covenant and a religious covenant. The new covenant is designed for a heavenly people, whose citizenship is in heaven.
… [Young man] Most legalistic. The Jews as a whole did not teach that one had to keep the whole Law in order to be saved.
[My comments] Wrong again. The only Jews that would teach that the whole Law did not need to be kept evolve into Talmudic Judaism. This form of Judaism was based on the oral Torah found among the Pharisees.
Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees, which He said was hypocrisy. Their added teachings are what Jesus came against so often; known as the tradition of the elders.
…[Young man] They knew it was given by God’s grace, because God wanted them to know how to live at peace with one another and with Him. He wanted them to know how to live in order to be happy and blessed. It was not given with the attitude of “Here! Keep it or you will be judged and go to hell!” It was given with the attitude of “I love you and want you to live an abundant life, and be blessed, and live at peace with your neighbor and with me.”
[My comments] I don’t know where this young man is getting his ideas. He is coming up with a hodge podge of wishful thinking that has little to no Biblical base.
And this points to one of the danger sides of the Jewish roots movement. Much of what they teach comes out of Talmudic Judaism. They don’t care that the Talmuds places curses upon Jesus, upon Mary, and upon Christians in general.
… [Young man] “You make it sound like it was a curse. “The ‘old’ covenant only brought judgment!” God’s Law and God’s Covenant are not to bring curses. The only ‘judgment’ they brought was the judgment Yeshua took upon Himself.
[My comments] What a mixed up young man. To say the ‘old’ covenant only brought judgment and not a curse — What is the difference? As I shared earlier, the covenant of the Law had curses built into it.
… [Young man] The original language does not promote the idea of a “new” covenant or an “old” covenant. There is but one Covenant. The only thing that changed about the Covenant was the Sacrifice. That’s actually what the original language and context says is new.
[My comments] This pretty shows where he is getting his instructions from. That he is unfamiliar with the original languages is a taken. It wasn’t simply the Sacrifice that changed. The new covenant is entirely new. Jeremiah said that the new covenant would not be like the covenant of Moses. (Cf. Jeremiah 31:31,32.)
Where God says that He will write His laws upon our hearts, He is not speaking of the Law of Moses. He is talking about the Law or covenant of Christ. There is so much Scripture I could provide for this, but I don’t want to weigh my response down.
…[Young man] The old sacrifice was the blood of lambs and bulls. The new Sacrifice was that of the Perfect Lamb, God’s flesh, the man Yeshua. His Blood is what enables the Law of God to be written on our hearts, instead of on tablets of stone. Same Law, my friend. The Law is the witness, the written terms of the same Covenant. Same Law = same Covenant. Instead of being written on stones, it’s written on hearts and minds now.
[My comments] Once again, the young man has no idea what the covenant of Christ entails. He is trying to piecemeal the Law and the covenant of grace into one.
The Law of Moses was nailed to the cross. There was a reason for this. The Law was considered to be a marriage contract between Israel and the Lord God. In the death of Messiah, that Law no longer exists.
In fact, God had already divorced Israel long before Christ came. Of course the Jewish roots movement doesn’t like to reference this.
The new covenant is also a marriage contract. It is between the glorified Jesus Christ and His bride the Church. You don’t take something from a former marriage contract and make it fit a new marriage contract. The first contract is null and void.
I wish this young man could escape the form of teaching that he is under. He is being deluded.
…[Young man] There was nothing Gentile (pagan) about God’s plan for the world, but His plan was most certainly Hebraic, as He brought it forth through the Jews. They were the ones His seed came into the world through, and their culture is the one He revealed Himself to the world through.
[My comment] Poor fellow. Jesus did not come to give us a Jewish culture. He came to give us a heavenly culture. Paul said that we do not know Jesus after the flesh any longer. Out of the cross came a new creation.
…[Young man] I really have no desire to argue with you over this. I’ll simply ask you to not make the mistake that Paul talked about by cursing the tree you were grafted into. Attempting to divorce yourself from your root will only lead you into separation from the truth. Please don’t make that mistake.”
[My comments] Wow. This young man lives in fear. The tree that we are grafted into has to do with true believers. It is the tree of redemption that reaches back to Abraham and thus back to Adam. It is the tree of redemption.
God has not grafted us into an unbelieving people. Even where it says the new covenant was made with Israel, this has to be understood with regard to God’s born from above people. The apostle noted that in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile. There is only a new heavenly creation.
[Daniel] Is this not what Paul warned against: “the falling away?”
Absolutely.
Daniel, I hope this helps a bit. And I pray that this young man will come to a true knowledge of Jesus Christ and to what is truly of the new covenant of Christ. He is placing his faith in the wrong things.
Blessings,
Buddy
Thank you Bro. Buddy for taking time to answer so precisely what is scriptural and what is not. I pray God continue to use you to expose what is truth and what is deception in the Church. Be blessed in Christ. Daniel
Thank you Daniel,
You are always an encouragement to me.
May the Lord overflow your life with all His goodness.
In Christ,
Buddy