This week I had an email from a friend who is concerned about yet another round of deceptive spiritual experiences and practices that are happening both within his own church fellowship and some other Christian ministries he is familiar with. He was asking for a copy of an article I wrote some while ago about the dangers of mixture in the church.
I originally wrote the article on the back of what was happening at Lakeland – but long before the whole event had became an unmitigated disaster for the charismatic Christian world following the exposure of some of the deception that was at the core of Lakeland.
My friend was bemoaning the fact that the same sort of spiritual experiences were once again being paraded in the fellowship as if they were normal and OK. I was more than happy to send him a copy of the article and here is what I wrote back to him in my email:
“Dandelions don’t go away if you chop their heads off – the root always goes deeper and the next time they appear they can be even stronger! My heart breaks for the way so many leaders have dealt with deception in the church as if it was a dandelion on their lawn – when something goes wrong, they just chop its head off and fail to deal with the real issues, time and time again. The result is a charismatic church that has no plumb line or, even, a desire to look for one.
When spiritual entertainment has become the easy substitute for spiritual reality, we are no longer making disciples, but facilitating a church that no longer has any way of discerning the true from the false.
I pray the article helps. All you can do is hold the line for truth and integrity and constantly question those things that have no basis of either reality or scriptural validity – especially those things that become popular quickly and which soften up believers to swallow lies in the midst of truth. Deception thrives when encased in truth – the presence of truth actually deceives people into thinking that everything must be true and there is no need to test.
Scripture, however, commands us to test ALL things – not just the things that look bad – we don’t need to test those, they must just be rejected. The things that need testing are the things that under a certain light look good. I was once amazed as a child at how strong and stable the stage set of a Roman Palace looked to the audience, when seen in the blaze of the theatre lights. But when I went back stage I was shocked to see that it was made of cardboard, paste and paint. We need to learn how to look backstage in the Body of Christ.”
As I had watched the events of Lakeland unfolding on our TV screens, I was grieved at how so few charismatic leaders seemed to be aware of the dangers of what was happening, and at how so many were unquestioningly endorsing it all, as if everything that was happening was of God.
I was weeping in my spirit over the lack of discernment there was in the Body of Christ and at the same time angry with the enemy for what he was sowing into the hearts of God’s people. The God of this world truly does blind spiritual eyes – even the eyes of God’s people.
I was sitting in the apartment of a friend in Jerusalem at the time. I can’t have been very far from the actual place where Jesus had warned the disciples that in the end times people would be deceived by false prophets, false signs and false wonders (see Matthew 24). I began to scribble down my thoughts about what was happening and these turned into the article I referred to above about the dangers of Mixture in the Church.
It seems, from what my friend was saying, that the dandelions are gathering their strength again for yet another demonstration of deceptive spiritual experiences. Let’s not forget Jesus’s injunction in Matthew 24:4, “Watch out that no-one deceives you.” And let’s also learn how to go back-stage in the Body of Christ and see what lies behind what we are seeing!
If you want to read the article for yourselves, you can go straight to it by clicking on the following link: Mixture in the Church Article
Thank you for your reminder to test all tinhgs. My church in Singapore is now openly endorsing Dragon Boat rowing as a healthy sport which can be a platform for us to enjoy each other’s fellowship and also an evangelistic outreach. It already is an accepted sport activity in many schools and tertiary institutions. It is a deception from the enemy. I am thankful Ellel teaching opened my eyes to this as early as last year. I did further research on my own, into the roots of dragon boat and it is all pagan worship, and necromancy, worship of the dead. And my husband stands with me on this issue. Praise God. Your clear stand and courage on m any issues really speak to my life. I remember your teaching on Hesed love in Hong Kong last year. It was a breakthrough for me. I now truly understand and receive God’s love for me. It has been an anchor in my life.
To your question, ‘ Is it not time for a more confrontational approach to protect the church from being led astray, not just by a mixture, but, more potently, by mixed up leaders?’, I would say a resounding yes. I think of the young ones in Christ who only know the Sunday food they’re fed, the simpletons, even the elders who have become blinded by their thirst for some show of power and think the old Biblical way of seeking God through prayer and fasting and studying His Word for years on is a bit too slow and long. I think of the ones to come, who’s to tell them this is not the true fire of God.
Besides, is your suggestion not the Scriptural way rather than leaving them to get on and spread their strange fire. This Scripture comes to mind: Matthew 18:15-17. Then again, who’s to say they would listen.
I found Mixture in the Church comprehensive and very helpful at the time of Lakeland and a useful reference since. One thing that I am interested to know more about is the thinking behind not naming Lakeland originally, and the blog here, which is more specific.
The line up of church leaders, authors, conference stars – call them what you will (and many have!) – contained some major names giving full-blooded support to the antics of Todd Bentley. Perhaps the rapid implosion of Lakeland following the revelations of Bentley’s adultery rendered further comment redundant, but that ministry has not gone away, nor others like it. More to the point, few leaders involved have repented of their involvement or confessed to the error of their ways. Is it not time for a more confrontational approach to protect the church from being led astray, not just by a mixture, but, more potently, by mixed up leaders?
There’s no end to my grieving over the past few months. My church has also embraced the heresy of Lakeland and its companions. The intensity is growing. So many are mindlessly following and rightly so because the new doctrine is to put away doctrine and follow ‘the’ spirit. To hold to sound doctrine is to be legalistic- and so therefore is the apostle Paul who fought for it. To question is to be faithless or causing division.
I see it clearly as the Word says it, because they hate my truth (2 Thes 2:10). As I saw someone described it ‘The love gospel that does not love the truth’. Everything is about this mushy god who loves his children but he never seems to rebuke error, unrighteousness and the like. This sounds more like satan than the Lord who punishes those whom He loves or who spoke to His Churches in Asia 2000 years ago.
I cannot express how overwhelmingly glad I am to have experienced your ministry for the first time this Saturday and further so, to see this article. Your love for the plain (and often hard) Truth was evident.
Thanks so very much for your article. I have been warning some people of this deception but many seem closed to hearing it, or it doesn’t seem important to them. I am hoping that your well written article may be helpful to some of these folk. We lost friends to this bizare movement some years back. So sad. Thank you for holding the plumb line. We need the voice of truth and you are standing for truth so thank you for your faithfulness.
Thank you for your reminder to test all things. My church in Singapore is now openly endorsing Dragon Boat rowing as a healthy sport which can be a platform for us to enjoy each other’s fellowship and also an evangelistic outreach. It already is an accepted sport activity in many schools and tertiary institutions. It is a deception from the enemy. I am thankful Ellel teaching opened my eyes to this as early as last year. I did further research on my own, into the roots of dragon boat and it is all pagan worship, and necromancy, worship of the dead. And my husband stands with me on this issue. Praise God.
Your clear stand and courage on m any issues really speak to my life. I remember your teaching on Hesed love in Hong Kong last year. It was a breakthrough for me. I now truly understand and receive God’s love for me. It has been an anchor in my life.
thank you for re-posting your “mixture” article –
for some years now, the Spirit of God has been speaking
about “tap roots” and how they can travel very far hidden underground
only to suddenly pop up again – and even bloom –
but always the same root from the same infected plant ………..
you are quite correct – unless the root is dealt with …………