[Please note that the following transcript was auto generated and has not been proofed.]



Again, you’ve got to be critical here. You’ve got to be thinking, not negatively critical, but you have to be thinking and just thinking Scripture.

Question: Hello, dear friends, and I’ll be honest. First off, thank you for your ministry. God has used your material wonderfully over the years in my life. Some of Pastor Tim, James’ brother Paul’s sermons were instrumental in my conversion. They have been a great help to me in my walk and in growing in holiness and desire for Christ. Why do we see healings, conversions, and other fruit and manifestations of power sometimes from ministries that present questionable teaching? I’m not speaking of the larger, more public word of faith or New Apostolic Reformation so-called ministries that are so popular these days. He says this, “I’ve noticed in my city in Canada, a good number of instances of what appear on the surface to be genuine miracles come out of churches whose leadership tends toward the direction of word of faith.”

Okay, let’s not just assume things. Somebody give me a good definition of the word of faith. What is that?

Given over to the prosperity gospel and name it claim, it, whatever you say will happen. They think that if they say it, it somehow is going to automatically make it happen. Anybody know about the New Apostolic Reformation? I mean, I know it’s a you know about that. I mean, it’s a Pentecostal/charismatic type group. I know they have like sevenfold, seven mountains of something. Anyway, what do you know about them? I just watched some stuff on the Urban Gospel TV network, and some people say it doesn’t even exist. Basically, it’s, there is not a base. People do things that there are modern apostles and that this Apostolic Reformation will be, just like the Protestant Reformation with New Apostolic teachings.

He says that I’ve noticed in my city in Canada, a good number of instances of what appear on the surface to be genuine miracles come out of churches whose leadership tends toward the direction of word of faith. Here’s his question: Are these instances of the Lord honoring faith? So he’s asking, are these instances of the Lord honoring faith even though their knowledge is flawed, or are they false miracles? Do they fall into the category of Matthew 7:21-23? And of course, that’s where people are doing many mighty works in his name. And he says, I never knew you. In the end, these people seem to have genuinely performed miracles in the name of Christ. How do we handle these cases?

The issue is admittedly of particular interest to me, as the young woman I’m pursuing with the hopes of future marriage gets pulled into these circles a lot because of close friends she has in them. Her uncle also pastors one of these churches. So obviously this guy is getting a perspective through this girl. She’s got an uncle in this. So things are being communicated back to him. He’s observing things, whether it’s through her eyes or however. She sees the issues and potential dangers in associating with them but is swayed by what appears to be the spirit moving in their midst in evangelism and healing, where many other churches here lack initiative.

I’m greatly appreciative of whatever insight you might have to give on the subject. One of the things that pop out at once is the girl is swayed by what appears to be the spirit moving in their midst in evangelism and healing. So what happens is you observe what you think is miraculous. You’re swayed to believe it’s genuine because of the miraculous. And then what happens is you embrace their theology as probably genuine, maybe slightly flawed, but as a whole, embraceable. Why? Because you’ve authenticated this thing by the fact that you observe the miraculous. Any problem with that sort of thinking? Like maybe it’s backwards? Does that occur to you that that’s backwards? Does it occur to you that if you think that way, or you’re swayed that way, that you’re playing right into the hands of the devil? Does that occur to you?

Because if I am swayed by what appears to me to be miraculous. Brethren, let’s just ask this question he’s posing. But, like, think about this. Why do we see healings, conversions, and other fruit and manifestations of power sometimes from ministries that present questionable teaching? Well, maybe they’re converted. Maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re healed. Maybe they’re not. Manifestations of power. The arm of the devil’s powerful God is more powerful. But the devil is pretty powerful. And the devil can do powerful things that, even if possible, might deceive the elect. Somebody said somewhere one time. And so my wife doesn’t like when I say that. She said, Tim, don’t say that. And they think that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

So I want to talk about the possibilities here. This guy has presented something. What are the possibilities? Obviously, one possibility is the whole thing is totally demonic. It’s a demonic false religion and anything apparently supernatural is either a deception, it isn’t really, or it’s a supernatural expression of some demonic activity in their midst. That’s one possibility. Two, it may be that the people he’s dealing with actually have the truth, even though he says that they’re off in some areas or, you know, they tend towards some certain direction. Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe they’re right. And maybe what he’s observing in them is altogether genuine. Maybe he’s right in that this is a situation where their doctrine is right in the core, but they’re kind of off in some other places, maybe some things we might say are more minor, and because they believe and they have faith, God does something there that he doesn’t do in a lot of reformed and Calvinistic groups, because Jesus doesn’t do many mighty works in certain places because of unbelief. Maybe there’s a whole lot of Calvinistic unbelief out there, and maybe some people that are in charismatic circles, maybe they have enough of the gospel where they’ve genuinely got saved, Pentecostal circles, and they have more faith than we have. Maybe there’s a possibility there.

Now, here’s the thing. We’re not there. One of the, what does Scripture tell us to do? What’s that? That’s to test the spirit. Where is that text found? First John 4. You should all know that we’re told to test the spirits. Okay, let me ask you this. What does that mean? Tell me what that means. Well, out doctrine and the devil’s way out there. Doctrine. Let me ask you this. If you came along and you found this church, and you found that, and you start looking around and it’s like, there’s sexual immorality, there’s fornication, there’s adultery here. And these brothers are suing each other. They’re off on the resurrection. You got people teaching weird doctrine here. And you guys over there, they’re speaking in tongues, and gays are prophesying. It’s like you look at it and they’re suing each other. And there’s obviously a problem with the women in the church, and there’s idolatry here, and there’s division. And the rich people aren’t waiting for the poor, and people are getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper. What do you think? They’re speaking in tongues. You think it’s genuine? You think it’s genuine? Test the spirits. What conclusion are you going to come to? Well, I didn’t know it was first Corinthians, I think it. You think it’s false? You might get. I was just getting a letter on the 13th. One, two, four. It says if there arises among you a prophet or dreamer of dreams who gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign of the wonder comes to pass, now which he spoke to you saying. This life. You are the God that you are not known. Let us serve him. We shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams, but the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

So clearly, if somebody is trying to move us away from worshiping the God of Scripture, we would really need to know who the God of Scripture is. You know? Just watch. Just think with me. I find, without exception, the devil attacks two things always. He attacks the person and work of Jesus Christ, and he attacks the scriptures. Look at any movement. Look at any church. Look at whatever they profess to be or are. Look at what they say. Somebody comes along and says, what do you think about Seventh Day Adventists? What do you think about Seventh Day Baptists? What do you think about Church of Christ? What do you think about these different things? You know, all sorts of movements spring up in this group or that group, and just go right there every time. What do they believe about Jesus Christ? What do they believe about his work? His person? What do they believe about scriptures? You examine them at that level. You will expose the devil every single time. He attacks those two things. He can’t tolerate them. He hates them. You want to look for testing the spirits? What spirit is this of? And be very careful. In much of the false Pentecostal charismatic circles, the spirit in those religions exalts himself. The spirit of Scripture exalts Christ. Make no mistake about it. That’s what Jesus says. He will glorify me. And so then you want to look for that.

The devil in the garden attacked the word. You look at the error. Just think about like first John. What’s the error? It’s to say the wrong thing about Christ. If yo