LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH
In recent times, Christian folks have flocked in droves to the so-called apostolic movement, like bees to the honeypot. Self-styled apostles with their apostolic declarations and self-proclaimed prophets and their prophetic proclamations, draw massive crowds of beleaguered Believers who are like persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand (Jonah 4:11).
Every meeting of the priests of the new-age religion is purportedly power packed with tall tales of fabulous displays of signs, wonders, and miracles told to anyone who wants to listen to the latest move of God in our generation. “Fire, fire, fire,” is their constant refrain, as the roof of the tent of their meetings seems to be always on fire.
Constantly, the apostles regale their audience with stories of how God appears and speaks to them personally and directly on a regular basis. Relentlessly, the prophets keep the crowd spellbound by spinning yarns about their numerous roundtrips to Heaven and hell many times.
Wowed by claims of spectacular display of power – which is people falling under the “anointing,” writhing on the floor like snakes, and shrieking painfully like demoniacs – the enchanted folks keep coming back for more and they keep bringing along their friends to be equally bewitched.
The reason many in the Church find the apostolic movement so attractive is because these impressionable Believers struggle to accept the simple truth that the Bible is truly sufficient for all their needs. They think more is needed for Christianity to have any tangible impact and in order to attract more people to the Gospel. So, they fall for charlatans who come along claiming to have power, and they are easily beguiled by anyone who makes himself appear more anointed and impressive.
These are the people whom Paul described, in Ephesians 4:14, as spiritual infants, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.
When they are supposed to be matured and able to tolerate the solid food of God’s Word, they remain infants, and continue to need to be fed with milk (1 Corinthians 3:2).
They’ve been believers so long now that they ought to be teaching others. Instead, they need someone to teach them again the elementary things about God’s Word. They are babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food (Hebrews 5:12).
To these seekers of signs and wonders I say, the new apostolic movement is a farce. Your apostles and prophets are impostors. The days of the Apostles are over…gone…finito… es ist vorbei…an kare…ọ gafeela…o ti pari…!!! There are no Apostles today. They are done and gone.
The real Apostles and Prophets were the foundation upon which the Church was built (Ephesians 2:20). The foundation of any building is built one time. Once the foundation is built, it’s done and over with. No building has more than one foundation. The Apostles had the authority to give us the Scriptures. There’s no one alive today who has the authority to give us the Scriptures.
The miracles, signs and wonders that Jesus and His Apostles displayed served the purpose of authenticating and establishing the Scripture which is now complete and closed. Christians now take dominion over the earth by the proclamation of the Gospel which is the Word of God and not through the miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus and his Apostles performed.
How I wished my beloved Brethren would realize that nothing is as important to their spiritual growth and maturity than the Bible that’s in their hands. The nearness and closeness to God they so crave is within their reach, if only they’d devote more attention to the study of God’s Word.
You possess a precious faith of the same kind as the Apostles (1 Peter 1:1). To each one of us has been given the measure of the Charismata, i.e., the Spiritual Gifts. God is not partial; He has given us all the Holy Spirit in equal measure (Ephesians 4:7).
Comments
Post a Comment