The Treasure Hunt

THE SECOND COMING ... PART FOUR

Thursday May 10, 2012 11:19 pm

As promised I will begin this fourth part speaking about one of the ten signs mentioned to show Christ's soon return: and that will be “false prophets.” Now, to be fair, there has always been false prophets around. I believe some of these men and women were only out to make a buck and in doing so started a cult or religion. The two which immediately come to mind in this category are Joseph Smith (Mormons) and  L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology).

Both men found an easy way to dupe people and make money. I can find no historical evidence that either of these men actually believed what they told others about their made-up religion... and in both cases hard evidence exists that they intended to make money off what they were doing. (Example: L. Ron Hubbard made a bet with Robert A. Heinlein that he could create a religion all by himself. Now, some Scientologists say that isn't true. However, many of Heinlein's autobiographical pieces show that this bet did take place and Heinlein's wife also has many of her own writings stating the same. And of course, Smith... what a joke! With his treasure hunting: scrying, divination rods and seer stones, it is almost mind boggling that anyone would ever believe anything he ever wrote or said. In his spoken words and by his own writings he changed his stories and accounts of past events as it related to “his visions” so many times as to be easily proven a deceiver and a liar. (Especially these two rascals set out to (on purpose) deceive people for money.)

However, I think for the most part these men and women who are false prophets are themselves duped and (or) deceived. In other words... they (their own selves) actually do believe the foolishness they spit out. I will begin with a man: a money-grubbing deceiver (Simon Magus) who was a well-known false prophet. This man came onto the scene within 30 years of the resurrection of Christ. In doing this I want to show that although false prophets have always been with us... NEVER... NEVER in the numbers they are at the present time! And of course, not only are today's false prophets abounding in never before seen numbers... the other nine signs are also happening at accelerated and record setting paces!

First: what is a false prophet? In order to be declared a false prophet all that you have to do is proclaim a vision or revealed truth (supposedly) from God and that “vision” or “truth” can be proven to be anti-Biblical. Or the vision... or supposed truth fails; then, you are a false prophet and as such was never sent from God! What follows is commonly known to be the Bible test for a prophet. In other words, it is easy to see if an evangelist, preacher, teacher, etc. is really of God, or has been blinded by greed for money, or fame, or has been duped by Satan, or even have deceived their own selves.

Deuteronomy 18:20-22: “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. (Now here is the test to see if a prophet is from God – verse 21.) And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? (Now here is the proof that the prophet is not from God – verse 22.) When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Remember: ...IF THE THING (vision or supposed truth) FOLLOW NOT, NOR COME TO PASS...)

There you have it... teach and preach falsehoods and (or) make predictions that a preacher has stated were revealed by divine inspiration, or some special discernment from the Lord... then, if these predictions prove to be false... or if their predictions do not come to pass: then they are false and lying prophets and were not sent from God! (The very best thing about this particular Bible test is that given enough time we can always tell who were false preachers and teachers from the past and who used the name of God to make their lying proclamations known.)

Other than the first deceiver (false prophet-Simon Magus) I will write about... a lot of the contemporary preachers I am going to expose (in light of Scripture only) will be in some form or fashion tied to the modern day charismatic movement.

I do this knowing that not every believer, teacher, or preacher involved in certain of these movements are deceivers or trying to teach error. But, even a cursory examination of what many of the leaders in this modern day movement have written in books or broadcast over the air is certainly enough to prove that this movement is rife with false and apostate preachers... and much of what they practice and preach goes against large passages of Scripture.

To the very time of this writing I have both family and (some) I love dearly in churches like what I will be writing about: yet, knowing these individuals... I believe them to be both dedicated and born-again believers. But, that in no way lets off the hook apostate preaching and (or) practices by leaders in their respective churches.

Rather than typing the massive amount I would have to in order to fully write about Simon Magus I would encourage all who reads this to simply look him up yourself and you will be able to see that he was indeed a false prophet... and very soon after Christ walked the Earth. I will quote just a few stories about him though so you can clearly see his apostasy.

In the book: A Dictionary of Early Christian beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church fathers: (Davis W. Bercott, Editor) it states: “There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who in the reign of Claudius Caesar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic... He was considered a god, and as god was honored by you with a statue. This statue was erected on the Tiber River, between the two bridges. It bore the following inscription in the language of Rome: “To Simon, the holy God.” ...And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even of other nations worship him. They acknowledge him as the first god.” Justin Martyr 160 A.D.

Tertullian wrote in 197 A.D. “”You install Simon Magus in your Pantheon, giving him a statue and the title of Holy God.”

In 248 A.D. Origen wrote: “Celsus next pours down upon us a heap of names saying that he knows of the existence of certain Simonians, who worship Helen... as their teacher. They are called Helenians, However, it has escaped the notice of Celsus that the Simonians do not at all acknowledge Jesus to be the Son of God. Rather, they consider Simon to be the power of God.”

Hippolytus in 225 A.D. Wrote: “The disciples, then, of this {Simon Magus} celebrate magical rites, and they resort to incantations. They transmit both love spells and charms... This Simon, deceiving many in Samaria by his sorceries, was reproved by the apostles, and he was put under a curse. All of this has been written in the Acts. But Simon afterwards renounced the faith... And journeying as far as Rome, he came in conflict with the apostles. Peter offered repeated opposition to him, for Simon was deceiving many by his sorceries.”

There are literally dozens of accounts in secular history about this early apostate... but I'll record just one more. Of course for all who knows their Bible this is the same Simon whom Peter rebuked and sent away when he was trying to (with money) purchase the power of the Holy Ghost. Irenaeus wrote in 180 A.D. That after he was rebuked by the Apostles of Christ and sent away that Simon gave himself entirely to the black arts and became an accomplished sorcerer and deceiver. In the city of Tyre he redeemed a slave woman named Helena and he began to take her with him and told throngs of people that this woman was the first conception of his own mind!

Keep in mind that as crazy as that sounds... I will prove that this same teaching is prevalent in many charismatic churches today. They go by different names, but the teaching is the same. That is... God was a man who became exalted and we... that is you and I, can also become gods... even the same as Christ! If you think that is blasphemous... you are right! But, I will show some very well known Pentecostal preachers who teach that very thing today. If you ever hear words like... God being a man “in the skin” RUN, don't walk away from that apostate church and its blasphemous teachings... RUN!!!

Before I show some well known preachers who teach blasphemous things and show themselves (even like Simon Magus) wanting to be little gods let me ask you as a believer a simple question. The God we worship... was He ever a man? Of course not! Why then do you, as a believer in Christ... sit and listen to charismatic preachers and teachers who publicly spew this particular blasphemy!

Now for everything I write about these men and what they have said... I can back it up with their own recordings, books, tapes, or even You Tube videos. So, without a doubt they have said what I am now going to write about them.

Today's false prophets and their blasphemous teachings go by many different names... but it is still the same cultist religion that Simon Magus was preaching in the first century A.D. Some of the more common names today are: Manifest Sons of God Doctrine... Latter Rain Teaching... The Anointed... etc. etc. etc. But all of them are teaching the same wicked thing. We can become gods... EXACTLY like Jesus! Of course, that is utter blasphemy!

I will begin with a local group. They are not a particularly large group of people as compared to just about any and all people with a named religion... but, it is easy to expose what has been taught as contrary to the Bible... AND this group has the same philosophy as Simon (we are, or can become gods) and these falsehoods abound in charismatic churches today. Remember: they believe and teach this because even as the Mormons teach... they think God was once a man as we are. Because of that... we too can become a god: which is complete heresy!

In The Mighty God Unveiled Branham said, “God always had skin on Him.” Repeatedly this same group today continues to call God … a man “in the skin.” God, at least the true God of the Bible is a Spirit and was never a man: exalted or otherwise. God took the form of man (Jesus) when He became flesh and dwelt among us... but in eternity past He was never a man: with “skin on him” as they teach.

All of these men, from the past until today who teach these heretical and blasphemous things learned it from Satan in the Garden of Eden. Remember the temptation of Eve? What did the devil say to her in order to get her to rebel against God? Genesis 3:5: “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” ...YE SHALL BE AS GODS...

Once you hear a preacher teach error... such as God was once a man... or always had “skin on him” then it is time to see if this is a failed prophet, lying, false, etc. So, for me personally I start gathering tapes, books, and everything else I can find where the man or woman I'm researching has written or spoken: then I listen and read. Let me show you some other error I found taught by this man, Branham.

Before I do that let me ask you a question. Would a true prophet, or man of God change Scripture to suit their own teaching? Of course not... right? In The Revelation of the Seven Seals: An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages; pp. 28, 48 Branham states: “Now don't let anyone say that I don't believe in a lake of fire and in punishment, I do. I don't know how long it will last, but it will eventually be removed. In Rev. 21:8, it says that those sinners mentioned will have their part in the lake of fire. But the true interpretation of the word is not 'part' but it is 'time.”

In other words... contrary to what the Bible clearly teaches... Branham falsely taught that God's punishment upon the lost was only for a time? But, in order to do that he had to change Scripture. Now, let me state up front: I have enough to do in understanding the English language without pretending to understand the Greek language. Because of that truth I bought a Greek Lexicon and I looked up the word 'meros' which Branham said should have been translated 'time' and not 'part' as the KJV reads. What do you suppose I found?

"Meros" has no translation that had anything to do with time: but it always was a part or piece of something. Now, I wanted to be certain I had not overlooked anything in my own studies so I called several different universities until I was able to actually speak to men who not only understood the Greek language, but taught it at university level. There was a consensus! From the Greek Lexicon to all of these teachers of the Greek language: “meros” has absolutely nothing to do with time! Here are some definitions I was given; “meros” – a part due or assigned to one lot … destiny a measure … as respect a part … severally … individually … etc. etc. etc.

I wanted to show that to help people understand that once these so-called “modern day prophets” start to teach falsehoods... it escalates, and soon all of their teaching becomes corrupted. I guess I'm including this next part because in a few days we celebrate Mother's Day. When we understand that God took a rib from Adam, and not a heel bone to create a woman does that not imply that she (hopefully, the love of his life) was to walk by his side through life, and not to be crushed or trodden under foot?

What do you think when you read passages in the Bible like Genesis 2:24: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (CLEAVE UNTO HIS WIFE)

How about Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.” Now... verse 28a: “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies...” (LOVE YOUR WIFE AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH)

Before I write what Branham taught and thought about women could I ask you, as a believer in Christ, to find any verse in the Bible that would teach what I am going to record Branham as having said about women.  In the book, William M. Branham 'My Life Story' he states, “I... This was my remark then, THEY'RE NOT WORTH A GOOD CLEAN BULLET TO KILL THEM WITH IT. That's Right. And I hated women. That's right. And I just have to watch every move now, to keep from still thinking the same thing.” (That was Branham preaching.)

Now, it's one thing to imagine that because (as a youth) his dad had polluted his mind with heretical teaching that Eve had sexual intercourse with the serpent... and that might have caused Branham to hate all women: I don't know? But, as an adult... and supposedly a spirit-filled believer he STILL had to continually watch “every move now” to keep from thinking that women were not worth a good clean bullet to kill them with it? (It's no wonder that those who sat under this man's tutelage had so little regard for women!)

From Simon Magus to every apostate preacher today, all of them spoke about seeing 'beings of light' and being given divine inspiration. Joseph Smith, Branham, and just about every Pentecostal preacher of any fame have all said the same thing; they have seen visions of God as a being of light! But, I am not at all surprised. For it's the same manifestation Even saw in the Garden as Satan was transformed into an angel of light. II Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

So, when these modern day apostates say they have been visited by “beings of light.” I, for one, do not doubt that” however, after these visions (and) whenever they begin to preach and teach contrary to the Bible... well, then we know their visitation was not of God: rather it was Satan as a being of light, deceiving them! Again... II Corinthians 11:14: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

That is why the Bible declares to try the spirits and see if they are of God. The litmus test is always the same. Do these “spirits” who visit these men teach Bible truth... or do they err from the Holy Writ? If they only add to sound doctrine and teaching, then the Spirit might well be of God. But, if they now err from revealed truth, then their visitation was from a transformed devil. I John 4:1: “BELOVED, BELIEVE NOT EVERY SPIRIT, BUT TRY THE SPIRITS WHETHER THEY ARE OF God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

I love reading old church history as well as the Bible. In this way as I read certain passages of Scripture I am cognizant of what was going on in the secular world during the lives of these great men who wrote the Bible. Now, imagine John as he was penning the above verse. This would have been nearly 60 years after Christ's resurrection and years after John had already withstood Simon Magus to his face. Don't you figure John was thinking of Simon as one of the many false prophets who had already been misled by Satan and was in the world preaching heresy.

(This is running so long that I will have to talk about earthquake data on my next entry. The day I originally walked into the pulpit to record this message for the radio I had 26 pages of typed notes... complete pages. I am telling you that because I will not be able to record all of the heresy that these men I am going to name have spoken. Suffice it to say that I have all of it documented and if any person wants to write and request it... I will make copies and mail them out to you. I will tell a few more choice stories of some of these men to prove they are all false prophets: then, I will end this with a list of their names... at least some of them.)

Kenneth Hagin (tape #44H06) said, “We {the church} are Christ. As Christ is – So are we.” Then, in  The Incarnation The Word of Faith, p. 13 Hagin said, “Every man who has been born again is an incarnation and Christianity is a miracle. The believer is as much an incarnation as was Jesus of Nazareth.” (Keep in mind that all false prophets are god-makers and they try to place their own pitiful selves along side Christ and act like His equal.) 

Hagin was Kenneth Copeland's mentor and you can see the corrupt apple fell very close to the corrupted tree. In Zoe: The God-Kind of Life, pgs. 35-36, & 41 Copeland says, “{Man} was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God's presence without any consciousness of inferiority... God made us as much like Himself as possible... He made us the same class of being that He is Himself... Man lived in the realm of God. He lived on terms equal with God... {The} believer is called Christ... That's who we are; Christ.” (Of course Copeland is blasphemously wrong!)

Morris Cerullo (The Endtime Manifestation of the Sons of God World Evangelism tape – 1) leading people in a chant: “Who are you? Come on, who are you? Come on, say it: 'Sons of God!' Come on say it! And what does work inside us, brother, is that manifestation of all that God is and all that God has. And when we stand up here, brother, you're not looking at Morris Cerullo; you're looking at God. You're looking at Jesus.” (Of course, in reality for all who were there and saw this heretical display they were in reality looking at a goat who was pretending to be a sheep!)

Benny Hinn, (Praise-a-Thon, TBN, November 6, 1990) “When you say, 'I am a Christian,' you are saying, I am mashiach,' in the Hebrew, I am a little messiah walking on earth, in other words. That is a shocking revelation... May I say it like this? You are a little god on earth running around.”

(Our position in Christ – tape # A031190-1) Benny Hinn said, “Are you ready for some real revelation knowledge... you are god.” (Remember... everyone of these lost apostate preachers all teach the same thing... blasphemous ideas about who God is and who man is.)

I am going to list several names of apostate leaders in charismatic churches and all of them I have recordings and books of each of them preaching blasphemy. E.W. Kenyon, Benny Hinn, (who has often said that he gets anointing from God from the bones of dead men as he visits grave-sites) Marilyn Hickey, Paul Crouch, John Hinkle, Jack Hayford, Gerald Coates, Gwen Shaw, Tommy Tenney, Paul Cain, Earl Paulk, Jack Deere, John Wimber, John Robert Stevens... I swear I could type another 50 men and women who I have listened to their tapes or read their literature and every single one of them are trying to make gods out of sinful men and women. They are all false prophets.

I was going to stop here but I want to tell you two more things about Mr. Branham. I have three routes I ride on my bike whenever I am getting in some mid-range exercise. I have a nine mile... a 17 mile... and a 23 mile bike ride. Whenever I am doing any of those three I start in the same direction and take the very same streets in the early part of the ride. If I am riding farther than that I start out from my house in a different direction. Anyway... on the shorter three routes which I try to ride a few times each week I pass Mr. Branham's gravesite in Eastern cemetery. I do this twice on every ride: once going out and once coming back. His site is so near the road where I ride that a child could throw a stone and reach it. I honestly believe I have never passed that grave without an involuntary shake of my head. I just can not fathom a man who said he was of God being buried under a pyramid. A pyramid!!!

The Egyptian pyramids were burial chambers for many of the Babylonian mystery religion believers. These people believed in reincarnation and worshiped Ra, the Sun god: Horus, the god of the dead: Isis, the fertility goddess, and many more pagan gods. William M. Branham, Jeffersonville, IN: Spoken Word Publications, said that the "zodiac" and the "Egyptian pyramids" were equal to the Scriptures in the revelation of God's word! (Can you imagine... equal to the Bible: completely heretical teaching!)

The zodiac was founded in Babylon by Nimrod (who led the first false) religious system) after the Great Flood. And we all know that throughout Scripture God condemns the zodiac and people who study it. How is it possible that a man who purports to know Scripture (Branham) could not have known that?
 
Because of things like that is why I know for a fact that Branham was deceived... I do not know if he was a deceiver! There is a difference. He was clearly wrong, but he might not have known that himself. Remember... Satan is an angel of light and he has deceived many people and made them believe in visions even when they have gone against Scripture. So, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since I never met him. But, I have read dozens of his sermons to find a lot of error and teachings that are completely anti-Biblical.

Now, some of his followers: are for a fact… DECEIVERS! Let me prove that to you... then I will end this part on false prophets. Because his followers believed him to be a god... many of them to this day go to his gravesite every Easter morning expecting him to arise, (I swear I'm not joking) of course they are ALWAYS going to be disappointed in that matter. Anyway, because they believed him to be a little god... as he talked they recorded everything. I mean everything! Even when he coughed or sneezed or anything else they recorded that... remember: EVERY SINGLE WORD!

Now with that truth in mind let me tell you a little story and prove that at least some of them today are knowingly deceiving people. What is a test for a failed prophet? Do you remember? If any of their prophecies fail... they were not sent from God. Right?

Okay, now I am going to reproduce part of his message where he was talking about the Second Coming of Christ. This particular message is found in: An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, P. 322. Branham says, “Based on these seven visions, along with the rapid changes which swept the world in the last 50 years, I predict (I do not prophesy) that these visions will have all come to pass by 1977.” (Now to this point he is fine in this message. He has said no more than any preacher might say about Christ's return. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way to say that it was only a prediction based on current events. So far... so good.)

Branham continues, “And though many may feel that this is an irresponsible statement in view of the fact that Jesus said that 'no man knoweth the day nor the hour,' I still maintain this prediction after 30 years because, Jesus did not say no man could know the year, month, or week in which His coming was to be completed.” (Now... get ready: up to this point he is still fine in what he has said... only his opinion as to the time. However: the next part shows his error and proves he was a failed prophet.)

Branham continues, “So, I repeat, I sincerely believe and maintain as a private student of the word, along with divine inspiration that 1977 ought to terminate the world system and usher in the Millennium.” (Notice... ALONG WITH DIVINE INSPIRATION!!!) Now, that was the message that was copied and sent out to all of his followers word-for-word for years. That is until 1977 passed. Now, what do you suppose some of his sycophants did? Keep in mind that this was a group of people who even wrote down if he coughed or sneezed! Now these deceivers actually removed from the later books four measly words! Can you guess what the four words were? ALONG WITH DIVINE INSPIRATION! (That was the four words they removed.) Why? Because they have enough Bible knowledge to know that this showed Branham was a failed prophet. His followers knew it and that is why they were removed. That is the reason I said I could not know for sure if Branham was trying to deceive others, or if it was nothing more than he (himself) was deceived. But, the people who did this in the later books ARE DECEIVERS... and of the worst sort!

Also in the tape, “Choosing a Bride” Branham said that by 1977 California would have already slid into the ocean, the WCC would have swallowed up all denominations... and the Roman Catholic Church would by now be controlling all denominations. One failed prophesy followed another!

Anyway... Simon Magus and a handful of false prophets have been around for centuries: today though false prophets number in the thousands and all of them are little god-makers. Either trying to make man exalted and equal to God. Or trying to bring God down to the level of man. In both cases it is heresy and another sign that the end is near.

I think I'll do like Branham did when he falsely predicted Christ would return in 1977... Ellen White (founder of Seventh Day Advent) falsely predicted Jesus would return in 1844... Joseph Smith (Mormons) falsely predicted Christ's return in 1891... Charles Russell (founder J.W.'s) falsely predicted God would return in 1914. (As a side note, Russell was the funniest of the group. He predicted Christ would return at three different times. Finally, after being wrong each time he said that Christ DID RETURN! But, it was a spiritual return and not a physical one. That's laugh-out-loud funny... don't you think?)

In reality I won't do that... I mean at least not the hour or the day? I will get within a week though... lol.

No, I think what I might do when I finally end this series is to push a date out far enough that I'll be long dead and beyond ridicule by that time... yeah, that's what I'll do. So, if you keep reading until I finally finish all of the parts: I'll do like the rest of them and throw together a date... OK?

posted by Robin Johnson @ 11:18 PM