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What is True Worship? Does it please the Lord?
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Welcome back to Be Not Deceived. We are here at Pastor Mark Dinsmore's home with his wife Shelly and we are here to continue our podcast with my husband Rob Weederich and we are going to do worship as our subject today and we're gonna look into what worship is and what it is according to the Bible and we're gonna have pastor Mark Dinsmore look into some of the Bethel music the music that's out there that's not necessarily telling us the truth about what worship is according to the Bible. Lead us in a a beautiful worship song, and then Mark's gonna lead us in some good information about what he's discovered and what we know a little bit about what's going on in our culture today. So let's worship the Lord. Amen. Amen. I chose the song, Change My Heart O God, because it's a song that reflects on the fact that my heart needs to be changed before I can worship God. The Lord tells us when we commune with him to to examine ourselves, because we examine ourselves when we find ourselves unworthy, we can incur some damnation. So, basically, what we wanna do is examine ourselves and just pray that the Lord would change our hearts that we might be true worshippers of him in spirit and truth. Change my heart, oh God. You have to test all things, hold fast that which is good. Right? So we're called to be Bereans, and so initially we might receive something with gladness. Like Paul spoke of the Bereans who were more noble than the Thessalonians, Acts 17 verse 11 because while they received what he was teaching or preaching with gladness they searched the scriptures daily to see if what he was communicating was in alignment with the word of God. And so we need to do that same thing in the context of worship, in the context of By being consistent in that, in that, in the what they're teaching in the church and what they're singing, do they match? Yeah. Are they matching? That's super important. Absolutely. And today, many, pieces, I was called so many songs that, Christians know and sing, could easily be a love song to your boyfriend or your girlfriend and when they're trying they're communicating of their love for the Lord or the Lord's love for us and yet it's not any different than a secular love song That's one of the problems that's increasingly prevalent in the church. But coming back to the idea that we need to test the doctrinal foundations, To test the fruit, you need to go to the root. What kind of tree is it coming from yeah right you shall know them by their fruit well let's look at what kind of tree it is where where are the roots sunk in are they sunk into the word of God or are they built on another foundation and so one of the in a former church actually a couple different congregations that my wife and I were a part of the music from the Bethel Church in Redding, California pastored by Bill Johnson was being introduced and, so again there was a time when I didn't see anything necessarily wrong with that. I didn't agree with their doctrine but I thought, well, they produced some songs that are really good, but they also produced some songs that are really bad. So in our last church, we began studying some of what the actual worship teachers themselves believed and one one piece of research I did with that was a actual worship leaders seminar that was conducted by Bill Johnson's son Brian Johnson and his wife Jen Johnson. Bob Burnley was called Jen Johnson and some of the lyrics go don't you look at me so smug. I don't know how the song goes I'm just reading the the verse. Don't you look at me so smug and say I'm going bad. Who are you to judge me in the life that I live? I know that I'm not perfect and that I don't claim to be. So before you point your fingers, be sure your hands are clean. And this must be the chorus judge not before you judge yourself, judge not if you're not ready for judgment. Right? And, he says the road of life is rocking and you may stumble too. So while you talk about me, someone else is judging you. And so this is, you know, the church picked up on this teaching consciously or unconsciously, you know, we've all heard, judge, not lest you be judged, right? Well, how do we have discernment without judging? We're called to judge righteous judgment, judgment. So the whole point Jesus was making when he said that is don't be hypocrites. You know, we're not to judge hypocritically, but we are to judge righteous judgment. And so unfortunately, there's a trend in in in evangelicalism and especially through Christian music to just to be accepting and tolerant and ultimately to embrace or allow others to embrace whatever errors or aberrations they want to embrace. And a lot of that is driven and supported by Christian music. In fact, a number of different artists today are either promoting LGBTQ or they are affirming themselves to be out and out involved in homosexuality themselves which is very very sad You know, we're talking about number one, number two, best selling artists of today. So this is a different gospel. Marley would have a different gospel. And just as he was singing a different gospel, the church is today introducing music that comes from another gospel, just as Paul warned against. Because they're they're these churches are are the ones who are who are creating these new worship music through Bethel, through Hillsong, different and and if you can there's many songs that are out there that are seem to be biblically sound and beautifully orchestrated and put together. And then they become very popular. But if you promote that song in your church, it does connectively promote their doctrine. Correct? And that's the problem is Your music is a gateway There you go. False doctrine and false teaching. Right? To another episode of redeeming truth. This one will not be controversial at all. The question is why do we here at our church and in our convictions not sing or direct people to baffle music, Jesus culture, Hillsong, Elevation Worship with Steven Furtick, and and all those like minded movements. While we are grateful for the zeal and the passion of some of these ministries, the well intentioned, seemingly well intentioned drive to reach people and to reach a culture and to reach a generation. You know, you guys can speak to this. Passion, while it it's essential, we wanna be passionate. Goodness. You gotta be passionate about the truth and about something in life where you'll just kinda live this mundane existence. Passion can be essential, but it's not always reliable. Speak to that for for a quick minute as we start here. Yeah. I mean, what's the most important thing about the gospel that we get it right? Right? Truth is the most important thing. If we're worshiping the wrong Jesus, we're in we're outside of the grace of God. So we have to be focused on truth. And if we're passionate, we have to be passionate about the truth. And I would take anyone who asked this question to Ephesians five. In Ephesians five verse 15 and following it gives us a way to to live life. It says, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of your time. And go down to a few verses later, it says, be be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody to the lord with your heart. So, Christians are commanded to sing. Not only that, we're commanded to address each other and in fact, teach each other through music. So, if our music is being used as a vehicle to teach false doctrine or even doctrine that looks true but is not quite there, then we should reject it wholeheartedly because if we're filled with the spirit singing songs, we will be filled with songs that sing truth. Okay. So the clearly, we've played our cards. The position would be that these movements are false, teaching false doctrines, that music matters, lyrics matter. So let me quickly quote things and make sure that we're being fair and accurate. And then, Dale, I want you to chime in certainly based on this. So what Bethel teaches and Bill Johnson being one of the heads of this movement and what is typically coined now the New Apostolic Reformation. What Todd White teaches and believes what is spread throughout these areas, conferences, and places like the send and others. They are teaching based on Philippians two five through seven that Jesus was just a man Mhmm. In right relationship to God. He was not God when he did his miracles, his signs, his wonders. He was just a man living like we could now today. Mhmm. And so based on that, we can do them too. And we're supposed to be living this supernatural lifestyle that not supernatural as in leading people to Christ, the miracle of salvation, or even just praying for people and and seeing god move in remarkable ways but actually, supernatural meaning we're prophets, we're apostles, we are healers, we're miracle workers, and going around and doing the life and so so you know we're being fair. I wanna quote Bill Johnson from page 29 of his book When Heaven Invades Earth where he says Jesus did his miracles, his signs, wonders, as a man in right relationship to God. And then there's an ellipsis. Not as god. Later on, in the book, when heaven invades Earth in page 79, he says these exact words, he laid his divinity aside. That is Christological heresy. To use the H word in the realist, literal sense, that is Christological heresy. You cannot, based on not only the teaching of scripture, but the Council of Chalcedon, the early church, all the way through the ages even to now, say that Jesus just at any point, you know, wasn't god. He laid aside his divinity. They base it on Philippians two. They say that the kenosis or the emptying of Christ was an emptying of his divinity, his divine nature, and then he laid that aside as a model to just show us how we could do it too. I am with RC Sproul when he says Jesus was truly man and truly God. And other scholars who have said that it was a subtraction by addition. In other words, it was a humbling or an emptying because he added humanity Yes. To who he already was, which is basically like God coming down and was saying, I'm gonna add puny human to my repertoire. Yeah. Gonna I'm gonna become one of them. The the the the weakness. That's right. It was not a doctrinal position that licensed us to just be mere men now going and doing signs of wonders. So here's what my conviction would be, and I believe we share this conviction, that if you're gonna demean Christ in his divinity, you're gonna say that he wasn't actually divine, that now we have a false Jesus. Mhmm. A false Jesus can't save. And people say, well, hold on. You don't know their heart. You can't judge their heart. What if they're well intentioned? You know what? Mormons are well intentioned. Mhmm. You know that in Islam, there's a Jesus. Mhmm. In many other false religions, there is a place for Jesus. Yeah. So if we're getting Jesus wrong, that Jesus can't save. And so I don't wanna sing about that Jesus. I don't wanna talk about that Jesus, and I sure don't wanna point people to that Jesus. And so, Dale, you know, speak to this. Would you say this is the definition of and fits under the category of false teaching in the New Testament? It's absolutely false teaching. And, you know, one of the things that one of the pushback we get from people against what we believe on this is that we're judging motives. And the reality is is that we we don't need to judge motive. What we're doing is we're judging doctrine. We're we're we're judging what it is that they're teaching. And there's there's a reality that a lot of this music is good music. Yeah. It's produced really well. It sounds great. It's got a hook. I mean, it's just it's it's stuff that makes people feel good. Yep. And it some of it is even doctrinally fairly sound. We do. We just keep it in isolation. And we talked about one song before where you one of your favorite songs just to put you on blast. Right. And I'm with you. The No Longer Slate. But I when that song song first came out, I and before I kinda got into this issue, I love that song. Yep. Absolutely. So it's not like the movement has just blatant heresy and they're just spewing false doctrine in every song and now, you know, you can't you couldn't sing any of it or you're going to hell. It's not what we're saying. You would say this is convictional and also, you know, the old cliche, even a broken clock is right twice a day. That's right. Or, you know, the devil ain't coming to deceive people with all lies. Doesn't he use some truth? So as you guys already talked, this this comes down to Christology. Mhmm. This comes down to what Jesus are you singing about. Mhmm. Right? And when you use life terms like LDS, they use the name of Christ, and it seems like they're talking about the same Jesus much of the time until you lift the hood up Yeah. On their theology and what they truly believe. And this is this is a very similar situation with NAR. You have to lift the hood up. What do they believe? And when you listen to them in their own words we're not putting words in anybody's mouth. Mhmm. In their own words, they are they are teaching and believing in a different Jesus other than the Bible. That's not in the Bible, I should say. Yeah. So when you're when they're producing music that that seemingly is using the same terms that an Orthodox church like ours would use, there's a comfort level to it. There's a there's a there's a hook to it. Like, oh, there's they're singing about my lord Yep. Until you find out that they're not. That's really good. I wanna add one clarity point here as well is, you know, people will naturally say, and I agree with asking this question. Well, then why in the world do you guys sing It Is Well With My Soul by Horatio Spafford, who did have any doctrine of hell or other things? He there were some serious problems. And then people kinda get snarky and say, well, you know, there are problems with CS Lewis. There are problems with this guy and this guy. You know? Well, I guess they're all heretics. We better just listen to you guys. You know? You got the lock on sound doctrine. Well, listen. The reason that we aren't gonna point people to this music or sing this music is because these are actively heretical movements. Mhmm. You know, singing It Is Well. True lyrics. Great song. Singing It Is Well With My Soul is not sending somebody to Bethel Supernatural School of Ministries or Todd White's Lifestyle Christianity. It's not going to lead people astray and we have real stories from people, parents at our church, parents from other churches, parents of college students who come crying because their students have been swept up. We've seen a lot of people saved out of these movements but one of the things too we would say is we're not commanding this of other churches or other people. These are our convictions and our convictions do not have to be your commands. However, we should all fairly understand and clearly understand why people have the positions that they do. And so we wanna continue to make clear that we are not gonna sing active heretics and point people to active heresy where they're gonna think, you know, you're muddying the water here. You've gotta pay royalties to these people as well with CCLI and some of the legal proceedings now and so we don't wanna pay money to heresy. That's right. And we don't want to partner with it in any way, shape, or form. That's our conviction. Can I give can I give one other example? Absolutely. So, for churches who would say, you know what? We'll just sing this one Bethel song or these two Hillsong tunes that are really good and they they sing the truth and they they they do give truth to our people. That would be tantamount to us saying, if Bill Johnson would come and preach a biblical exegetical sermon in our church, then we'll let him come fill the pulpit just for that one time. That's a great Practically, pragmatically, that's the exact same thing. We would never do that. We as a community, we would be ripped to shreds for doing that. And everybody would say, why in the world would you do that? Well, the exact same thing is happening with music every Sunday in many churches around the country when heresy is creeping in one step at a time through the music because because pragmatically, like we've talked about before, it's beautiful, It gets people in the door, and it's popular. I mean, this is such an important issue. Jesus talked about in his first sermon. Right? So Mhmm. Matthew chapter seven, Jesus says very plainly, beware. Yes. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. So they might look like you Yep. But beware because they're bringing a different message. That message is not my message. Yeah. So if our Lord said beware Yep. All we're doing is saying listen to what Jesus is saying. Beware. Do your homework. Yep. Learn about this. Don't just take our word for it. That's right. Do your own work on it and figure this out. Amen. And I mean, I'm not being snarky or sarcastic when I say this. Growing up in the circle that I did and now being as old as I am and and just having experience with some of this, I always wanna ask people, you know, why are you so excited and so deeply convicted to sing Bethel and to sing Jesus culture and to reach this generation but twenty years ago and for the last twenty years, you refused to buy my uncle's instrumental CD. You're not playing the Benny and worship CD in your churches. You're, I've had like conservative guys that are even more right, you know, over the right side of things that I mean, really deeply you know, convicted guys over things have told me before, I've heard your uncle Benny preach better gospel presentations than baptist preachers. So, it's really not about the fact that these people don't offer anything or that there's nothing truthful in it. The real question is, you know, what are we going for? Are we caving to the culture? Am I letting the radio DJ and the top, you know, billboard hits dictate what I sing? Mhmm. Am I letting my methodological leanings dictate now my theological convictions? Then, sing them all. Welcome them all in. Open the doors for everyone and live with the conviction all the way. Take it to its logical conclusion. And so I don't I don't say that to be snarky or sarcastic. It's just always been interesting to me that the minute it got cool. Yeah. The minute it had V necks and skinny jeans and leather jackets and it made it into the mainstream was the minute a whole bunch of churches decided, you know what? This is what people like. Kyle, you mentioned pragmatism. Mhmm. You know what? Let's do it. This will grow it. This will build it. And all those other guys are just stuck up, you know, theology nerds. Yeah. Any last thoughts on this? I mean, we could talk for hour. And I think of the scripture, I'm I can't quote it, but you guys will probably remember it, where it says that Satan creeps into houses and, you know, into women's ears. Right? Seducing Seducing. Women that are Women. And and I I would say even men. Right? I I know many men who have been seduced by this, but how does he creep into houses? Through publications, through books, through authors, through music. Music is so ear gate and the eye gate. Yeah. The the and and music is so, so powerful, and we we want to believe that everything is naturally good. Right? And so we have to be we have to learn to discern as believers. Otherwise, we can be swept, literally swept. And so my personal experience is that I left Mormonism, and I was just dry with no I believed in God, but no real faith for about six years. And then when I did come back in, I came into Vineyard. And it was right when the holy laughter movement and all of the signs and wonders and and the music. The music was amazing. And and we and we were swept into all for nine years into I went from one cult essentially to another, not realizing thought I had gone from the false to the true. Mhmm. Not realizing that God actually has a way that he wants to be worshiped. And Yeah. And I don't know if you quoted it earlier, but he said we worship him in spirit and in truth. Mhmm. And so if we're not worshiping him in that place of his truth, he's laid out in the word, he doesn't receive it as worship. Right. It's unreal. And I I turned on the radio in my car the other day, and there was a song on. And it was Christian radio, but not one mention of Jesus and not even one mention of God. It's just you make the sunshine in my life, and you make this, and I I all I could think of was Stevie Wonder. You know? Because there was no glorifying of the Lord. Mhmm. And today a lot of today's seven eleven songs, which are like, you know, seven, you know Words sung. Words some 11 times repetitive repetitive repetitive, are all focused on me, myself, and I. Yeah. And we've forgotten how glorious and majestic and incredible and wonderful that our father is. And we we can easily put the focus on ourselves so easily. Right. Yeah. Right? Music in its worship music in its in its fundamental form was initiated by the church to to educate people who were illiterate, who could not read. So they couldn't read the bible, but they could sing the bible. Tell us as as well, how did you both start leading worship? How did you get involved? How did you feel a sense of calling, and how did that grow? I wrote a song. In fact, I'll play it. Okay. Why don't you hold the mic up for me, babe? Okay. I do. You got it. That's good. I started playing guitar as a junior in high school. I wrote this song and my youth pastor said, that's a good song because we were all hippies and he was a Rastafarian and a reggae. And so I had dreadlocks and a beard. And I wrote this song and he's like, that's a great song. Why don't you play the youth group? And so this is the first song I ever wrote. And I played at youth group and then from that day on, I started co leading with them and then took over the youth worship then moved to Reading and had you took the work youth worship over and then we got married, then we took over the big church we call the worship. So this is first song. Ready? You're the miracle of my life, and you set me free. Well, you sent your only son to die for all to see every day. When you're on my mind, you are everything that I needed more. You know what I'm saying? You're the miracle of my life, and you set me free. It's good, man. So you got the dreadlocks and the whole There you go. There's my story. So that's how do you and Jen, what about you? For me, we, you know, we both grew up in church and have loved the Lord our whole lives. And I started playing the piano when I was five and singing my first solo at a women's aglow meeting. I don't know if you have that here, but and so I just have always loved worship, and I I started really becoming passionate about worship when I was in junior high, and a lot of the vineyard and just really God was stirring my heart for that. So same progression that I I led in children's church, and then I led in junior high, and then high school, and then big church. And so, you know, just kind of wherever I could serve, I served home groups, you know, and I just both of us were very influenced heavily by so many streams, the vineyard, you know, this team, just all over the world, just Hillsong, just so many deliras. We ate it up, you know, anything that was worship and fresh just have been so influenced and we're just so grateful too for just the movements all over the world that are worshiped that have just been going for it. So And we've heard loads about stuff happening in Bethel, and it sounds amazing. You've seen some pretty special times of worship there, like the the gold dust and all. Do you wanna tell us a bit about stuff that's going on? Yeah. It's it's weird, but it's awesome. Wanna hear it all. You know, I we've seen amazing things. And, you know, when you grow up in church, you know, you you get very I don't know. You you know, you see a lot of stuff, which is amazing. And but we've seen the freakiest stuff that we don't understand. And, you know, this one time, the whatever you wanna call it, glory cloud, whatever, this swirling mist of gold I don't even know. It looks like a Van Gogh painting. It's just incredible. And it just So just Yeah. Explain because if people were boating, you know Yeah. So what are they smoking? What yeah. But but what A lot. Just gonna be What just what what is it? What happened? You know, just it's amazing. It sometimes in worship, we'll just be leading worship. And this Mostly when it's my song. Of course. That's a joke. Not serious. Yeah. We need Oh, So it's, you know, it all of a sudden, and it we've noticed it starting mostly in worship, sometimes during preaching, but just this gold swirling mist will appear. And it's not glitter. It's not it's it's unexplainable, really. And it would just and what's amazing is whenever it shows up, spontaneous worship just breaks out in the room, and people just start worshiping and worshiping. And it's just absolutely incredible. And, you know, it it happened a few times, and you just see people on their face and these people worshiping, some people crying, some people dancing, some people laughing, and we just let God do whatever he wants. And his dad said, you know, let's just we don't know what to do here. Let's just let God be God and just worship. And and so I this friend of ours, they had joined the team, our worship team, and I'm very pastoral, I'm always checking in. You know, how are you doing? You know, this is weird. And so I just kinda was checking in with them, and people are just worshiping all over the room. This cloud is just kind of swirling. And I just said, hey, you guys. I don't really understand this, but I love it. And and they were like, yeah. And my friend's very wise. And he said, you know, the children of Israel probably didn't really get the pillar of fire, but it was there now, wasn't it? And I was like, touche. Touche. You know? So I think we need to be expectant. You know? We haven't seen anything yet. God said greater things will we see in our day. And I don't know about you, but that's what I'm hungry for. I haven't seen a sea parted yet. And he said even greater things, so I think we need to be expectant. And and I think what you're hungry for, that's what you will eat. And I'm hungry for the things that I can explain. I'm hungry for the supernatural. I'm hungry for those moves of God that my little analytical mind can't figure out, but I love. So I think that just having that heart that is open and and willing to not know what to do with it, but yet want it more than my fear of what it will look like. Let's talk about what the what what the devil what was his job before I fell? He had tablets and pipes. He was most likely that heaven's, worship leader. Right. Yeah. And how easy it is to, to bring that focus from out here to God to inward. And then pride grows. And Beautiful being. Clothed in a rainbow. We had gemstones. So Right. So we have to be careful. Yeah. And the important importance of that is that carefulness is that we are we are rhythmic. We have a heartbeat. The devil, he is a pacemaker. So he will set the pace of what you want. That's why a lot of these youth get they love the music. It's awesome. It draws them in. The beat's awesome. Did you see the flames and smoke and sparks and lights? That was awesome. But what was being said was, oh, and by the way, you guys are awesome. I'm awesome. We're all awesome. Let's go and have some more awesome with ourselves. Right. Yeah. Basically, that's what's happening because They're worshiping the worship. Because Yeah. Because the false the false worshiper, Satan, is setting the pace to their heart. That heart that God gave us to hear his rhythm, to hear his beat, and we're lulled into hearing the world's beat. Yeah. And we're so inundated that when we walk into our churches, it was like years ago involved in music ministry and involved in in sound engineering. Most Christians would come to a church like I told you earlier with a better steering system in their car than we had in the church. Yeah. Right. And they expect something. And when you come in and they just got done listening to Jimi Hendrix or they got listened to somebody that they listen to on the radio, they come in and they got someone playing an old steel guitar with a piano. They're like, okay. This isn't cutting it. So what did the church do? What did the church do? They upped their game. They started bringing in the the street sound. They started bringing in the sound that the world is playing that these Christians are accustomed to listening to. Yeah. And we have completely pushed God aside and pushed self ahead. That's that's how it's become. And it's it's a sad thing when you have a group of people who has to be Christian but do not sing to the god host. Do not sing to the glorious god of creation. They're singing to their own god. Right. Worshiping the creature rather than the creator. Yeah. Yeah. Even though they could argue that point because they felt something, because they feel, you know, emotionally moved by the atmosphere that they're being enveloped in, but that can also be deception. Yeah. That is is god truly pleased with the worship that that we just, I felt it but is it pleasing unto the lord? And I I want to worship him in spirit and truth. Without having to set an atmosphere. Yeah. Without working it up. But then that serves a lot of people because that when you start getting used to that Mhmm. You you you forget that it actually is our heart should be seeking the Lord and not necessarily seeking an atmosphere. Yeah. The deception is true because you can go to a Chicago concert and walk away emotionally charged. Absolutely. You can walk away with that. Was so awesome. I am not gonna break. I'm not gonna forget that for a while. Yeah. Was so good. Chills. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They hit the right notes. They got the right rhythm, and they have you had like minded people all around you throwing popcorn in the air because they were moved by that concert. That is not what we're talking about in worshiping God. That's not worshiping God. That's worshiping yourself because your body is telling you this is the gig. This is what's going on and it's it's it can be a lie. So should not should we avoid, or should we not have emotions when we worship? Not our emotions should be totally focused on God. Right. Well, even David danced before David danced the So I think there is there is. Our bodies are are made with emotions. It's not a negative thing. Right. But we need to God created emotions. So feeling something isn't wrong or bad. In fact, should, if we don't feel anything, we should check our pulse. Yeah. When we're, when we're worshiping the Lord, our focus is on, Him, not the experience. But today people are putting the experience ahead of, and so it's the cart before the horse. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The emotions can and should often follow when we are, bowing before the Lord. Yeah. Now whenever we've moved or had to choose a new church, our number one criteria is, is it biblically sound? Teaching first. And a lot of people go and they, oh, I don't like the worship. Yep. That will go. And they move on. But, really, you gotta check your heart. Right? If you're if you're doing that because Mhmm. You know, it it shouldn't be the number one criteria Yeah. For why you decide to go to a church. Oh, COVID is very entertainment. Yeah. We're entertainment and media focused, but, you know, twenty four seven. Yeah. Our our youth today are addicted to their cell phones Yeah. From age four Yeah. You know, five, six. And he's a different person. It is like you said, Rob, it's kinda hard to compete, but I don't think god wants us to compete. And the few times that I've been in churches with really authentic worship, it didn't it was just a guitarist. Yes. Strip it down. You didn't have to you didn't have to make a big fanfare in order for us to feel the holy spirit and be moved. So when you're if you go back to that original precept that I just said that that worship initiated itself out of memorization of the word of God. Mhmm. They sang the word of God. So if you're singing the word of God Mhmm. With a and you're playing a company with a piano, a flute, a harmonica, a guitar, if the word of God is being preached, you who are followers of Christ cannot you you you can't do anything but be moved. Right. And transform that renewing your You don't need anything because the holy spirit is ministering to your heart. He is doing the work. It's not the band. It's not the smoke and flames and the dark lights. He's doing the work in your heart because that's why you're there to hear from God and not only to hear from God, but to give him his praise. Yeah. That is do him. Mhmm. And Yeah. We get so sidetracked, and it's just so sad what what has become I mean, it was it was creeping into the church. People like like Keith Green were holding it back. Chuck Girard who who who poor Chuck Girard back when he was out of love song and he started his own his own music. He did music that was absolutely biblical scripture. The guess what? Recording studios at the time didn't whine because they were not marketable music. Was not marketable. Too worried. Oh, you're talking too much about God and this thing called sin and repentance. Calls sin. No. No. Just if if you can you if you if you can use the word him. Mhmm. Right? Him and and you, but but if you say God said Yeah. Or Jesus is calling you to do this or that, repent, turn to God that you might be saved, then we we really don't and this was back when I went to Christian Artists International, an organization that was put on in Seattle many years ago, and I met several artists that that were there. But the theme in the eighties. That was in the eighties. But the theme was still on on productivity, on marketability. Marketability. If you we can't market you, then you're no good. And you could be spot on scriptural. They just did that. Great singer. Yeah. Right. Because they knew the crowd was accepted. Yeah. Yeah. Because we by nature, we we wanna reject God, and we wanna live our own way. Right? With that rebellion that creeps up. And just tell me what I wanna hear. That's that's all anybody ever says. Just tell me what I wanna hear, and I'll show up. And what makes me feel good. Yeah. Wow. That's why a lot of the church, the churches are empty now. Right? The remnant churches that are who we Rastafari or they're monotheists. They worship a singular God they call Yeah. And they regard Yeah as a deity. They believe that Yeah is inherent within each human individual, which is common today. People believe that, oh, everyone is a child of God. Every human being is a child of God. If that's the case, why did Jesus rebuke the Pharisees and said, you are of your father, the devil. Yeah. Right? You have one second. What does Rastafari mean to you? Righteousness. One destiny. One heart. One love. We've all heard of Reggae and Bob Marley talking about one love, and we've all seen the bright colors and the long dreadlocks of those who consider themselves Rastafari. For over 1,000,000 followers worldwide, it's a way of life. But what do Rastafari really believe? I'm at Rastafest, one of the largest Rastafari celebrations in all of North America. I'm about to meet a young man who's gonna tell me why all of this is so important to their way of life. Let's go. If there was one young man who embodies the Rastafari way of life, it's this guy, and he's about to give me a great tour of Rastafest. Hey. Hey. How are How are you? Nice to meet you. Now what is this festival all about? I've seen art. I've seen food. Yeah. I see a stage. Is this really to celebrate Jamaican culture? Rasafari is not just a Jamaican thing. It's a world a worldwide movement. Rasafari teach people to be free and to do what makes them happy and and to live love. And it's not limited to the Caribbean, not limited to Canada or the West. It's all over the world. Now what are we gonna see today? What are we gonna do? We're gonna see a lot of beautiful music, beautiful people, beautiful foods, and a collection of those vibrations, expression of Rasapare and the movements. It seems like everything here is vegetarian. How comes? Because the basis of Rasapare is the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow is to not put any unclean animal or spirit into your body, to keep your body clean, like spiritual clean and physically clean for God and for your brothers and sisters. Are there any rules to, like, say a prayer first? Yeah. I will. Is this, like, a Ras of FireEye prayer? Yeah. As an Orthodox Christian, you say in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Yeah. And then that's So in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. You for this awesome Yeah. You say whatever. Yeah. Exactly. Whatever you wanna say after that. Alright. Yeah. Here it goes. You ready? As Ajani introduced me to the colors and the icons of Rasta culture Jamaica. It was not hard to see that many of its symbols come from both Christianity and the idea that all life began in Africa. But I would also learn that Rastas are all about living for today and not being preoccupied with the afterlife. Even their music, reggae, is all about the idea there's a connection, a lifeblood that bonds all humanity. And the drumming has been an instrument in Africa for a hundred thousands of years. They used to use it to communicate with different towns and let them know if there's enemies coming, if there's cattle ready or So drumming is a language. Yeah. It's a language, and they use it to communicate with each other. And the it's most beautiful language because everyone can feel it. It's not just the language of Africa. It's the language of the world. And that language is supposed to be like a heartbeat, a constant rhythm linking all the world's peoples together. So tell me about what this means. What am I doing exactly? You're putting yourself into a meditative state to accept positive vibrations and connecting with all of us. It's the same as saying I and I. You are I and I right now. What is I and I? I and I is the connection between you, me, others, the energy of the earth, the energy in the sky. So all of us. All of us connecting. I and I is acknowledging that we're all the same and we're all connected. There's no separation. We're all the same. Yeah. We're all connected. Yeah. We're all God's children. Yeah. And we all float on the circle. Yeah. Hear the words of the Rastamansi. In the name of Rastafari. Jaw, we ask you for strength, power, and endurance. And that word, jaw, is one you will often hear when speaking to Rastas because jaw means god or the holy spirit that flows through all of us. So when Rastas use the words I and I, they are speaking of all human beings being bound together by one god, one life force, Jah. Another cultural practice of Rastas and one they are known for worldwide is the smoking of marijuana or what they call Ganja or the herb. I was introduced to a spiritual roster who explained its significance. I wanna say I really just you know, I would more say it's more of a spiritual experience. You know? And, yeah, it make me feel relaxed when we when we when we smoke the herb, but we don't do it just to feel relaxed. We do it to meditate. You know? Just like how in other cultures, see people do other things to meditate. Some might do yoga. Some might sit still and cross them legs. Some might dance around to a certain beat. We smoke herbs and we put you in that state of mind where we can focus focus on whatever we wanna meditate on. The spiritual significance of smoking ganja is one thing, but what about their hair? Yeah. I wanna ask you about your very cool dreads Yeah. Which I have to tell you, I've always wanted. Yeah. Now is that part of being Rastafari? What's up with the dreads? Well, to be a Rastafari, you don't have to have lots. To grow your hair is to, like, show that you're separating yourself from the world, and it's to have an extension of yourself to the universe. It's like your it's like your antenna or something like that. Got it. So where did the history of their beliefs come from? I was introduced to Ajani's godfather, a lifelong Rastafara. Hey. I'm Tevye. Nice to meet you. So what what was all that? Do I get to do all that with Yeah. That's the cross. Mean, we're saying the name of the father, the son, the holy spirit, one god. One god. Yeah. But after the answer, that's gonna be more don't do that just to show you. Okay. Now for people who don't know Rasta, I think everybody knows Bob Marley. That's right. What are other things that are quite popular that are Rasta focused that people wouldn't realize? Like symbols, like? Yeah. Okay. You know the stars of the Star of David? Yeah. That's the roster. Okay. That's it's my message from the tribe of Judah. Yes. What else? That and also the lion. Who have the lion? Okay. Here's the lion down here. Okay. What the lion the lion. The godhead. Godhead. Yeah. I know a lion rules. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And from the tribe of Judah. Right? Christ is the lion of Judah. You heard that right. Israel, the lion of Judah, the holy land, the bible, the link between Rastafari and the early teachings of Christianity run deep. I was about to find out how this ceremonial bonfire and the second coming of Jesus Christ all go together. No. I can't do thumbs up. We don't do thumbs up. We do we do this. We do the holy seal and the holy trinity. That's the power. That's the cross within it. The cross. So far on my journey into the world of Rasta Farai, I had met a young Rasta who explained how the food they eat, the music they make, and even the way they keep their dreadlocked hair all have spiritual meaning. To have an extension of yourself to the universe. But I was also about to learn more about how this Rasta way of life has a deep connection to Jesus Christ and the Bible itself. Okay. If I wanna go home tonight and become Ras of Barri, could I convert? Yeah. Yeah. As long as you take up the Nazarite vow, know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and that's the basics of it. You see the cross again? Jesus is the son of God. Now was Jesus black? I have to be. Does that mean God is black? No. No. So, God, God is the word that you can't see, the spirit. And the spirit come manifest and take on flesh Got and become the it. Yeah. So God is no color, but in come but the sun Christ come as black. This is the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. In the Orthodox church, we say Virgin Maryam and Christos. For Orthodox Rastafari, the center of their belief system is the Bible. But here's the difference between most Christians and the Rastafari. In the final book of the Bible, the book of Revelations, it is written that Jesus will rise again and provide eternal salvation to all of those who believe in him. But for Rastas, they believe that Jesus has already risen and that he did so in Ethiopia in 1892 when Rastafari MacKinnon was born, a man who would later rise to become the king of Ethiopia and be known as Haile Selassie. Or emperor emperor Haile Selassie. He would rule Ethiopia from 1930 until his death or what Rastas call his ascension in 1974. So important is Hallie Selassie to the Rasta way of life that every year on his birthday, July 23, Rastas around the globe meet at ceremonial bonfires like this. Wade Walters preaches Rastafari teachings on his own radio show. When did Rastafarianism actually start as a religion? Was it when Hallie was born? If I didn't make this point, a lot of Rastas who will be viewing this would be upset with me because you use the term Rastafarianism, and we don't believe in that terminology. Rastas don't believe in any isms or schisms. So when you say Rastafari and ism, we don't deal with that. We say Rastafari is the way of life. Rastafari. Oh. The term Rasta, it it is an Ethiopian title. And back in Ethiopia, if you were granted a title as a Ras, you were known as a prince. So hence, he was born Tafari Maconan. And when he received the title as a prince, it's now Ras Tafari Makhanen. Later on at his coronation, the name Haile Selassie, which was actually his baptismal name, was revealed to the world where every nation sent representatives to witness this great coronation of then to be crowned, kings of kings, lords of lords, and the conquering land of the tribe of Judah. Ironically, these are titles which are mentioned in the very King James version bible as the titles that Christ would have upon his second return to the earth. For hours, even days, this bonfire and drumming ceremony will pay homage to Hali Selassie's memory, the king of Ethiopia, the second coming of Christ. This book is is called an image, and they've actually found in Egypt one of the oldest pictures of Jesus Christ on this earth today. It's a 1,500 year old icon picture of Jesus Christ. Now you're looking at the picture yourself, and over here, here's a picture of Haile Selassie the first. Look at the hairline. Look at the features. They are absolutely identical. And for Rastas worldwide, that image of Hale Selassie, their spiritual king coming out of the heart of Africa, is central to all their beliefs. But as I was about to unearth, their connection to the planet goes even deeper. Food is the single most important thing to human beings other than the almighty. It's very important to have farm in urban areas so that the distance between consumers, okay, and farmers is short. Like, the apartment building over the road, people come and get it fresh. The ITAL live is an important part of our spiritual development. Now what is ITAL? The word ITAL is short for natural. The mean tend to use natural things from the environment. And for food, the natural is was grown naturally. I mean, it's grown in a sustainable way. It's grown organically. It's grown with no chemical fertilizer or pesticides, and it's grown in a way that is humane. They would say, like, a ital liberty. I mean, you're living a natural life Now you said the word liberty. I've never heard that word before. What does it mean? Liberty. Basically, it means live, how you live. Like, ital life is a man or a woman who live a Ital style, a natural style. A lot of people feel good buying food from Rasta, so they know they know they're getting the real deal. You know what I mean? Yeah, man. Okay. So I have my shovel. Mhmm. And what do we have here? That is That is carrots. Carrots. My last rasta stop was with Zola to get some liberty through harvesting some of these real Itau carrots right in the middle of the city. What do you think of that? Wow. It's good, man. It is good. You you definitely graduate as a farmer. Oh. So I hope you could come more often Yeah. And dig out some more carrots. Alright. Pull pull. You can get it. Alright. How's that? Alright. Let's go make some soup. That is good and gonna be wonderful. Alright. Well, let's go. Let's go, man. Right? Yeah. So you must be born again. So this belief is reflected in the aphorism often cited by the Rastas. And, Shelley, you'll find this familiar. They say God is man and man is God. Right? And what do Mormons teach and believe? As man is, God once was. As God is. Man shall be. Man shall be. Yep. And so it's important to examine the roots. So his roots were off even in the beginning, back in the early days of Bethel. Well, and it goes back to the lie of the garden. Right? Because Satan said, you know, to Eve, if you eat of this, you'll be like him. Right. Right? So this is and and this is this is there's no new thing under the sun. Man still wants to achieve God of it. Yeah. And it's like, that's not what God's plan was. Yeah. That's not right. Yeah. And so this is just presented in a different way. Exactly. You have the little gods heresy, so made popular in charismatic denominations. And Bethel Church Reading holds for that Bill Johnson teaches that little god's heresy and humanizes and stay away from any church that humanizes Christ and deifies man Bottom line. And so just like Marley, leaders and followers of today's prophetic movement say judge not, right, to those who would question their teachings and methods. So a couple of quick examples from that seminar, we had Jen Johnson, this was a few years ago. She taught that the, she, her belief was that Holy Spirit is like the genie from Aladdin. Right? And she kind of, so once that got around to a few discerning believers and teachers kind of she was pulled back or the reins you know were pulled back. But this was in the context of her teaching, how to do worship and how to hear from God. This is the full quote. And she said this in kind of a sassiness and cocked her head. The Holy Spirit is like Genie from Aladdin, and he's blue. And he's funny. He's sneaky, and he's courageous, and he's everywhere. He's silly. He's wonderful, and I view him like the genie from Aladdin, unquote. So time out. Where in the scriptures do we get the idea that the Holy Spirit is funny or sneaky or silly? Who does that sound like? The devil. The devil. He's the trickster. Yeah. He's the jester. He is the deceiver who appears as an angel of light. So, she's clearly hearing from another spirit and being deceived. And yet she's a worship teacher, mega mega worship leader. Yeah. International speaker. Yeah. In contrast, the biblical role of the Holy spirit is clear. He's our helper. He's our teacher, John fourteen twenty six. He indwells and seals us for the day of redemption. Amen. Ephesians one thirteen and four thirty. He assists us in prayer. Mhmm. Jude one twenty. He intercedes on our behalf. Romans eight twenty six and twenty seven. He comforts and strengthens in times of trial. Mhmm. First Thessalonians one six and second Corinthians thirteen four. He brings joy. He brings peace. Amen. Causes us to overflow with hope. Romans fifteen thirteen. He regenerates and renews. Titus three five. He sanctifies and leads us to righteousness. Galatians five nineteen through 26. And as believers, we yield to his presence. He gives gifts according to God's will, not our will. That's right. First Corinthians twelve four. He convicts the world of sin. How many songs convict us of sin? Rob, you were just referring to that. Modern worship doesn't convict people of sin. It affirms your sin. It affirms you where you are. Yeah. Exactly. God loves me just as I am. He does love us, but we we must, come we must repent and come to him humbly. He always testifies of Christ. The Holy Spirit does. John fifteen twenty six. He restrains sin, not winks at it, not turns a blind eye toward it. He restrains it, and he restrains lawlessness. Second Thessalonians two six through 10. He searches every heart, even the depths of God. First Corinthians two verses 10 through 11. That's condensed from a list of the things that the Holy Spirit does on the, Got Questions website, gotquestions.org. Finally, the Holy Spirit brings wisdom and understanding. In second Corinthians two twelve and thirteen, now we have received not the spirit of the world. Right? That's right. Because we that's enmity with God to be in love with the world, but the spirit who is from God that we might understand the things freely given us by God and We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual So we really need to again examine the roots test the fruit examine the roots and just in this one quote alone the holy spirit is like the genie from aloudin that fails the test red flag time out burn that stuff I mean get get rid of it if that's the source and there's so much more in Aladdin the movie Aladdin or the story of the movie was drawn from, recall that the genie is really a demon. Yeah. And he's trapped in a lamp, and he grants the owner three wishes. In contrast, the Holy Spirit's not a prisoner in their bodies. No. And his job isn't to do do our beck and call. No. We don't command him and tell him what to do. And we and we do not possess him. Right? But he possesses should own and have it us. Right. Right? And so what a skewed perspective. It's it's an inversion. It's really a a demonic satanic inversion. Yeah. That's masquerading. Satan is masquerading as an angel of light and coming right into churches and believers' hearts and minds twenty four seven as they listen to, this music. And what what I think about when you say that is what would Satan love more than anything but people to attribute, god, like, worship when it's when he's really the author because he wants to be worshiped as God. Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah. And so The five high levels. And and I and I do wanna say that I I believe a lot of these believers, and I know because I I stood in this place myself, They're they're naive and innocent in these belief systems. Mhmm. And they really believe they are hearing from God, and they don't understand they're hearing from spirits. Right. And so they get swept in. And and then I I've watched Jen speak these things, and, oh, the holy spirit's like Santa Claus. Mhmm. And, oh, the holy spirit's this, and he's that. And there's thousands of people at these worship conferences all over the world. And they're laughing because they they they're amused by how this, you know, big worship giant is telling them how it works. And they're they're just being swayed, and no one's questioning. No one's questioning. People are not Be ready. They're not aware of the the the deception of the devil in the sense that he is inclusive. And they feel that inclusivity is God's in God's interest. When he doesn't do that, he is exclusive. Yeah. Yeah. And he'll include you into his family. He'll adopt you when you come in the way he set it up. Establishes. Yeah. No. You're not coming any other way. There's no other way to worship me. You can't so, you know, that's why we're told if you see these people that, you know, some come from within, some come without, but what you're admonished to do have nothing to do with these people because they do not have God's spirit within them. And that this will kind of probably offend you, but, oh, well, it's what I see. I view the holy spirit like the genie from Aladdin, and he's blue, unplanned, perfect. And he's funny, and he's sneaky, and he's courageous, and he's everywhere, and he's wonderful. He's wonderful. And he's a comforter. He knows what I need in every moment. I can just curl up and just lay on him. He knows everything. He knows every aspect of my life. He knows me thoroughly. He knows what I'm great at. He knows what I'm working on, and he's so really tangible. He's right here. Truth, but I was worshiping a system of works Exactly. Along with Jesus. But the problem is if you add anything to Jesus, then Then it's all wrong. Then it's off. You're off and on. Problem. You can't Yeah. You can't add anything. There is nothing else needed other than Jesus. So if a worship leader tells you that it's okay that we accept all people, God is loving to all people, and we accept the LGBT, we accept the pedophile, we accept that. If and then they're gonna say that they love Jesus and let's sing about Jesus, what he did for us. You have to be able to look at this. If it's if it's if you stepped in it, you got it on you. Yeah. There's no way of going well it's okay we'll endure that nastiness because they said one or two good things. Yeah. You have to throw the whole mess out because the dis if that person doesn't have the discernment to discern the body of Christ, how am I gonna trust them to discern anything else? Right. Right. I I can't trust them at all. Such a good point. And that is why in this teaching that Brian and Jen Johnson put on it was called prophetic worship they were explaining how to do quote unquote prophetic worship they declared that God does not ever get angry or judge people through prophecy today. That they're speaking of Isn't correct. Kind of personal, but also corporate prophecy in the context of the church. But both she and Brian downplay or dismiss the prophetic promise and reality of God's wrath. Right? Right. What does the Bible say about, prophecy? Instead, they think that they're bringing heaven to earth right now. And that's a kind of a perpetual refrain of Bill Johnson and many other, leaders. And and for that reason, there can't be any wrath or judgment involved because as you were saying, God is love and Christ is the church. But that's a lie. That's antichrist. We're to to, judge right eous judgment, and the Lord is returning, and he's going to judge all nations. Yeah. And there's gonna be wrath poured out upon the earth. That's reality. That's prophetic future reality. So they're spouting the same lie as new age authors yeah like Oprah Winfrey right and the author of the shack which was a 20,000,000 copy bestseller with Paul Young. Right? Yeah. And Young's image, imagined God, doesn't express wrath. He says I think this is a conversation in his book. In the book, when Mac asks, aren't you the one spilling out great bowls of wrath and throwing people into a burning lake of fire? And the character woman, black woman character playing god says, that she's called papa. I'm not who you think I am Mackenzie. I don't need to punish people for sin. Says it's unpunishment and it says right here in Psalm seven verse 11 that's convenient to remember. Psalm seven verse 11 God is a just judge and God is angry with the wicked every day. Right? That should give some of these worship leaders pause that here in the the hymnal of scripture is this declaration, and so that again these leaders are contradicting God's word, and that brings us to another comment by Jen Johnson, during this worship seminar put on with her husband Brian she says quote I view God as God the Father, creator wonderful and I view him like Aslan from Narnia. Jen's evidently learned quite a bit of her theology from popular Disney movies. She's sharing she's she's sharing God with somebody else. She doesn't like that. That's right. So in a longer clip from one of her holy spirit outtakes, she describes her version of God as Aslan the lion. And she gets quite choked up emotionally about this, recalling how he shook his mane in the movie, and that just deeply stirred her. I visualize god partially as Aslan from Narnia. Have you seen the new movies that they they redid the Chronicles of Narnia? Oh, I just cried. That first Narnia when the lion walks with a little girl. See you later. And I really view God as that the the lion, and he's authoritative, and he's courageous, and he stands, and he is not moved by anything, and he's so tender, and he's so kind, and he's such a dad, and he's just warm, and he's but you don't mess with him. He is not playing around, but he would defend and protect and and keep me close to his heart because I'm his. I could talk for days. See you. You know, this is not only nonsensical. It's it's blasphemy. God has nothing to do with Aslan from the movie. Yeah. As much as many believers have revered and read C. S. Lewis through the years, I've read the entire series twice, but, know once as a very young father to my own young son, but through the years I again I matured, I grew as a believer and then I came to understand that a lot of what C. S. Lewis drew on was from mythology. Right? And mythology is based and rooted in what? Occultism. Greek and Roman paganism and occultism. And so it's pagan mythology. And a lot of believers don't know that C. S. Lewis even seen the to advocate for universalism, which is the lie of Oprah Winfrey, the lie of the shack, and kind of like the lion, all dogs go to heaven. Right? Yeah. So he advocated for universalism in one of his novels. And so again, the Holy Spirit, of God bears nothing in common with what, Brian and Jen Johnson were presenting as the foundation for teaching and helping other quote unquote prophetic musicians. And to me, that is very, very sad. They're believing a lie from Antichrist and they are perpetuating it. They are deceived and they're deceiving others. Right. And be not deceived. Yeah. That's that's our command, isn't it? Point that out. Amen. Be not deceived. The and it gets worse. Unfortunately, I wish that was it. But in another clip from Jen Johnson, I wish I'm not making this up. I wish I was. She says, god the father is like the best picture of Santa Claus. She said, yeah this is in the video link for the heart and process of prophetic worship. Jen Johnson declares, quote, when we peel back, the she's speaking of the earthly father experience. When we peel back the experience to get to know the heavenly father, and he's so kind, he really is, the father is like the best picture of Santa Claus that you've ever seen. He's just so jolly and happy and wonderful, and he's got a big belly laugh. He's just so happy. Wow. No. I'm not trying to play Santa Claus. But that's that's a lie, that's Antichrist. Can you imagine a mature believer, leader and writer and composer and performer of some of the most popular and most played worship music in the world Yeah. And teaching these things. The Holy Spirit's like Genie from Aladdin. Right? And gods like Asim from Narnia, and god the father is the best picture of Santa Claus. She's got another reference to Jesus. I forgot what it is, but, so these are just human imaginations projected on God. It's blasphemous. It's idolatrous. Yeah. It's demonic. Yeah. The lord tells us not to take his name in vain and to compare him to his creation or man's creation is is blasphemous. To say, oh, god's like this. You're way off. Yeah. You couldn't be farther off than what you just said. Right. He is not like that at all. You may be and those you circle yourself with, but God is not like any of that. And we're so you know, our first response is to laugh at this because it's so ridiculous. It's so preposterous, and yet it's no laughing matter. Yeah. You know? These are the founders of the modern prophetic worship movement, you know, part of the the the new order of latter rain, charismatic kingdom, dominionism, but it it's their goal is to break dividing walls. You know, that's been a chant and a refrain of this movement for decades. Break dividing walls. And they do that. They found that the key is through music, through concerts, through conferences. And so this is how Satan creeps in. And this is when Paul said that if we or an angel from heaven teach any other thing than what we've taught, let him be accursed. Let And him be and people would be shocked, but Paul, the apostle Paul would stand up and he would say precisely the same thing to many in the modern worship, modern prophetic worship movement. And too many Christians are afraid to find themselves in that position or place themselves in that position because there are too many of these so called worship leaders who when asked, well, how do you feel about LGBT? How do you feel about this? How do feel feel about that? Well, you know, I don't know the scripture well enough to be able to give a definitive answer on that, and that's between then and God. And they make all these excuses. I would simply look right at him and say, you are a lost soul. If you can't tell me right here and now how God feels about that, then I don't wanna hear another word coming out of your mouth. Yeah. Except excuse me. Because what you're saying to me right here and now as a so called prophetic utterance of some message you've got from God, but you can't tell me definitively how God feels about these subjects, then nothing that comes out of your mouth is worthy of my listening. Mhmm. I'm not gonna give you a minute because you can't tell me how much feels about that. Yeah. Well, I I just I just don't know. Maybe maybe you know. Maybe you can tell me. Oh my gosh. And you're standing up in front of me in this crowd of a 100,000 people and you can't tell me the truth. Right. Yeah. Then another word comes out of your mouth is a lie. Everything coming out your mouth is a lie. Well, problem is that these so called worship leaders and the folks who follow them are basing their theology and what they feel. You know Jen Johnson says as much, says to me God is like, to me Jesus is like, to me the Holy Spirit is like, I feel this is what and so it's a feeling. That's a standard And and so they're not they're not adhering and upholding the word of god. Yeah. They're not deriving their doctrine and their belief from the scriptures. They are literally inventing it in the imaginations Yeah. Of their mind. Of their mind and comparing it to the the demonic satanic, replacements, the substitutes. They're carving out a god to suit their own image. To suit their own It's idolatry guys. Image. I mean, Santa Claus, really, and the genie from Aladdin. Yeah. These are imaginations. They're in movies. They're in pixels. They're in, you know, and and as we covered earlier, god is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in the spirit in truth. And and in truth. Not Santa Claus, not a red suited character that flies around the world once a year and delivers goodies, and he knows if you've been bad or good. That's that's antichrist. I'm sorry. Yeah. That's just an antichrist. Get away with it is that the people around them, the so called church and or pastors are not stopping them. They're not correcting them. Yeah. Because if they had corrected them, then they wouldn't be there, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And a lot of pastors don't even know Yeah. And are naive. And Because it's divisive to them. It takes people out of the out of the pew. Yeah. I was recently at a dinner with some Christian women, and this gal had created a playlist for the host. And I was just talking to her, and she sounded sounded like she really loved the lord, and she, you know, really loved his word and was really focused. And then I'm like, oh, who's your favorite artist? Oh, Lauren Daigle. I know. And it's like, okay. Lauren Daigle. Like, who? Wait a minute. You know? Like, everybody jumped on the Lauren Daigle thing, and she came out as evangelical, but but she's not. No. She's a major. People are being being led again by their feelings and emotions through these artists who are singing what they want to see that pleases that sensual Isn't that tragic? Yeah. So I'm not sure which is more tragic. The fact that she does that or the fact that she feels she can describe God in these terms or that so many of those following her love to hear it so. Yeah. Like they love it. They love it so. God lamented that in back when Israel was being foolishness, he lamented that through the prophet Jeremiah chapter five verse 31 the prophets prophesy falsely just as they are today. Paul said we would have false prophets today and the priests, the teachers, the spiritual leaders bear rule by their means, right? They're they're the apostles. They and my people love to have it. So what will you do in the end thereof? Right? If you, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? So they've rewritten, and they've reinterpreted, and they're presenting a new gospel with different God and a different Jesus. So the key that when this occurs in the church and it passes for mainstream Christianity today, that is a key indicator of the lateness of the hour Yeah. Of the sign of the times. Mhmm. The end of the age Yep. Where and and that's where, you know, we're really looking at the professing church and the as we look at the the Lord's return and who the Lord will will, in the rapture, take us up in the air to meet him in the air. And the ones that are are playing this out as professing Christians, and but then they have no no discernment. They're not even looking for the rapture. They're they've they've tossed that out in their doctrine, and they've they've they've followed a a different gospel, gospel, a different Jesus, a different worship. That causes them to lead many astray. And then the one world government, the one world monetary system, and the one world religion will continue to form. And they might be so deceived. All through worship, I whenever we start to sing a song and I close my eyes, I just actually step into heaven. And I was looking around heaven, but I noticed that, my brother-in-law, Jim, and my father-in-law, Bill's dad, are standing on the edge of heaven, and they're looking down. And both of them died from cancer. And I said, holy spirit, Jesus, why are they watching? Why are they why are they standing out to me? Why are they standing and looking down? And then Jen said, we declare healing over cancer. So I know we declared that again, but I just if you have I know we all have people that have that, that wretched disease from hell. And I really feel like the Holy Spirit is on that and that we are to declare more. We are to go after this for a little bit. So let's just speak to those people that we know. If you're in this room and you have cancer, we declare to you no more. We're grabbing out of heaven the healing power. Raise your hand if you have cancer in here. Raise your hand if you have cancer in here. Okay, put your hands on him. And if you have a close relative, raise your hand too. Wanna pray for them. Everybody that has their hand raised, please, somebody touch them. Don't pray, declare. This is the time. This is an open heaven right here, and we're calling down the healing power of Jesus over cancer. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Jennifer, sing something. When Jesus was in the garden getting ready for the cross, he said angels came and ministered to him. And I Lord. Lord. We thank
About This Podcast
Be Not Deceived Podcast with Vicki Wiederrich
Be Not Deceived is a podcast dedicated to looking at Biblical truth and comparing it to the lies the world and the devil is telling to cause deception in the church and in our society at large in the present day. The devil is trying to deceive as many as possible, but God always wins!
