Wolves

I'm no heresy-hunter or blogging guardian of the faith, but I just wanted to mention something I've been hearing a lot about lately from "Christian" sources. Maybe you've heard the one about how "the world" is going to give its wealth to the church in the end times! One prophet/guru guy (who shall remained un-hyperlinked) says we need to start "thinking like billionaires" in order to position ourselves for the great flow of cash that is going to come to Christians in the end times.

Ummm, that's just poop.

Anyway, have you noticed that these prophetic Christian gurus always present their case in the form of:

1. We are in the end times
2. The Bible says [though often in some veiled or coded manner only discernable to the great prophet] that in the end times such-and-such will take place
3. Therefore, you should . . . buy my latest dvd series on how to be ready for such-and-such

Anyway, this sort of thing has always been around, it doesn't surprise me much, but I admit I can still be surprised by the propensity of Christians not to see through this stuff. In the NT, whenever people get to talking about the "end times," there's one particular warning that frequently repeats, but none of these end-times-prophets of our day ever seem to mention it. In other words, people are looking for this sign or that sign proclaimed as "near" by the guru, but they never look for the one sign that Matthew, Mark, Paul, Peter, and John all mention. Here's a sample:

Matt 24:11
Matt. 24:24
Mark 13:22
2Cor 11:13
2Thes 2:9-11
1Tim 1:3
2Peter 2:1
1John 4:1

See what I mean? They all warn against false prophets coming along in the end times, misleading many. So why then isn't that the sign these people are looking out for, since it's apparently the sign that all the major NT authors very clearly warned about. In other words, if assertion 1 above is true, then assertion 2 ought to be, therefore be watchful for wolves disguised as sheep, invading the community of believers and misleading many.

I'm just sayin' . . .

The Apocalyptic Prophecy Rag

If I were ever going to rant about something on this blog, I mean really let 'er rip, I'd rant about the self-proclaimed prophets of our day. I've often thought about doing this, but I always back off because, well, it's not polite to rant.

Well, Michael Spencer has done the job for me. Really, if you care about the church, these contemporary prophets are doing it more harm than all the atheistic best sellers put together. They are false, they are wolves disguised as sheep, serving their own bellies rather than Christ. That's what I think of the general run of prophetic types (none of whom I intend to name or link to, but they're hawking their wares all over the web).

You would think that it would hurt their cause that they are consistently wrong in their prognostications, but that does not seem to be the case. They are under no authority, so they need never confess the harm their false prophecies have done.

Anyway, look, I'm doing what I said I wouldn't do. Ranting! But Michael's rant is a quality example of the form. Plus he gets a lot more interesting comments than I do, so if you're interested in this topic, by all means get yourself over there and read.

Itching Ears Report

This quote from Lee Grady, editor of Charisma, is in the That's-What-I'm-Talkin-About category:

A prophet stays biblical. So much of what is passed off as prophecy today resembles what you might find in a daily horoscope. The so-called “prophetic movement” in the contemporary church has been tainted by silly fads and charismatic witchcraft. One prophetic e-mail list sent out a word recently saying that dormant angels were being awakened out of the walls of our churches. (That’s not remotely scriptural.) Another predicted that God would begin to speak to people through the names of candy bars and blue jeans.

So much of our prophetic verbiage sounds like warm and fuzzy fortunetelling. This type of “imitation prophecy” can titillate and thrill those with itching ears, but it is pablum designed for babies who don’t want to grow up. What we need is a word we can sink our teeth into—true meat that is the Word of God.

Well, somebody had to say it.

Which reminds me of a recent "prophecy" I was told about. It seems there's going to be this major "wealth transfer" from unbelievers to believers, which will be a sign of the end times. A prominent tele-Christian is even hawking a new DVD set that will explain "how to take advantage of the coming wealth transfer."

This kind of things is why John's Revelation is in the Bible. Charismatics really ought to try reading it one of these days.