False Teachers and Prophets – Methods of Operation
by Jean Joubert
It is very sad to see people who call themselves Christians being so ignorant of the Scripture and then they land up in all these “problem” situations like Toronto and Lakeland.
Here in South Africa we have similar “problem” ministries and people doing the rounds. The most famous currently is Angus Buchan with his Shalom ministries and Mighty Men Conferences. He is currently “spreading his wings” internationally so you might hear of him shortly also in your country.
As I am leading a few house church groups, I have been praying for wisdom on how to warn people of these false teachers/prophets and ministries and what to lookout for. Apart from checking their doctrine, I have been led to investigate something I call “their methods of operation”.
I believe God has shown me something regarding their methods and I want to share it with you.
These false prophets and teachers always focus on the flesh and the desires of the flesh. The Bible however clearly states:
1 Pe 4:2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
We know that these false prophets and teachers use Amen’s, Hallelujahs, music and repeated choruses to get emotions going and to get the people’s minds from a Beta state to an Alpha state so that they then just go with the flow without discerning what is being said or preached. [DTW: music plays a huge part in getting the crowd: relaxed, hyped up, excited, emotional, expectant etc)
All of these false teachers and prophets however also like to make use of the following phrase in one form or another for example:. "I can feel the Spirit in this place", "this place is pregnant with the spirit", "I can feel the anointing in this place" or "I sense a Spirit of healing in this place" etc. Angus Buchan himself also likes to use these phrases. [DTW: This is a very cunning thing to say for a few reasons: 1) He is preparing you psychologically to accept strange happenings if and when they do occur, 2) If the pastor says the Holy Spirit is here, then surely He must be for why would the pastor lie? 4) People want to know that the Holy Spirit is in the building because they do not have the Holy Spirit IN them and know no better.]
They always say something about “sensing” or “feeling” the Spirit. They regularly use this then to mislead and confuse the people by telling them that the atmosphere which they are feeling is in fact the Holy Spirit that is present in the place. They thus say that the building contains the Holy Spirit or that the Spirit can be felt physically. They usually abuse and twist the scripture that says:
Mat 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
The truth regarding this “feeling” of the Spirit I believe is the following. Scripture teaches us:
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
Eph 2:2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Eph 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
- The word air in verse 2 is the Greek word – and means: The air we breathe or the atmosphere surrounding us.
- The word cravings in verse 3 is the Greek word – epithumia – and means: desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
- The word following in verse 3 is the Greek word – poieo – and means: to produce, construct, form, fashion, to make a thing out of something, to be the authors of a thing, to perform to a promise . .etc
- The word desires in verse 3 is the Greek word - thelema – and means: what one wishes or has determined shall be done
[DTW: Many pastors now a days are referring to the atmosphere in their teachings, be it 'releasing faith into the atmosphere', 'expecting things to happen in the atmosphere', 'atmosphere is full of the Glory of God', 'spiritual warfare taking place in the atmosphere', 'opening the heavens (or atmosphere)'. This is new age teaching and anti-Christ.]
What do we learn from this?
- The atmosphere does NOT contain the Spirit of God.
- Satan is the ruler of the atmosphere.
- If I have a physical sensing of a spirit in the atmosphere, it will not be the Holy Spirit.
- The fleshly person cannot say no to the cravings of their flesh and they will always follow it’s desires.
Now let us apply this to a meeting . . .
If we, by choice, allow ourselves to be influenced through our senses by the surrounding atmosphere in a church or stadium (created by worship leaders, false prophets or teachers) our fleshly desires (good feelings or feeling good) will become our main objective/desire in these meetings to such an extend that we will even produce the desired effects/feelings so that our desires can be fulfilled. We will thus wilfully ignore the gentle warning prompting of the Holy Spirit and rather “enjoy” these good feelings because we want it.
The focus is on ME and not on God. I want to be blessed, I want to feel the Spirit, I want to be physically touched, I want the anointing, I want to be “slain in the Spirit” ..etc.
The people that flock to these anointing meetings are actually saying:
“My flesh is alive and well and it is desiring/demanding to be satisfied and I will allow it to be satisfied because I want it to be so!”
The scary part for me is that we end up worshipping and praying to this God / Spirit that we feel in the atmosphere!
That might explain why an attendee of the Angus Buchan Mighty Men Conference (MMC 2008) said: “We took the God of Angus home with us . . “
These false prophets/teachers themselves are also feeding the lust of their flesh themselves because, they know that if they can give the people a feel good experience they will be popular with the people and because of that they will get good revenues.
By the way, to be “slain in the Spirit” is also abused by these Prophets and teachers. The Biblical “slain in the Spirit” is very different than that being practised today. Biblical “slain in the spirit” means death! Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Spirit and was slain in the Spirit ! (Acts 5) [DTW: another thing is the 'fire' that these ministers like to call down on people, the only biblical thing about this 'fire' is that this fire is a fire of God's wrath. Matthew 3:11 "I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."Matthew 3:12 "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."" Jesus will baptise believers with the Holy Spirit and non-believers with fire - So next time you see a supposed 'man of god' throwing fire in your direction, run for your life.]
It seems that this “fleshly” problem of the Ephesians really is seen as a BIG stumbling block. A few chapters further on in Ephesians we read the following:
Eph 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Eph 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
Eph 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Eph 4:19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
This words futility of their thinking, darkened understanding, ignorance and hardened hearts are all interconnected.
These are all the results of following their fleshly desires. Look also at this following scripture:
Hos 4:11 Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart and the mind and the spiritual understanding. (AMP)
- The word harlotry in the above scripture is the word - zenooth – in Hebrew and means: adultery and idolatry – to place something above God or to make an idol of yourself.
- The word wine in the above scripture is the word – yahyin – in Hebrew and means: to be bubbling as if intoxicated ; To be in natural commotion [Deborah's note: The new Apostles and Prophets are always talking about the 'new move' of God, the 'move into the supernatural', a 'Revival', a 'new wine'. Now we know that this 'new wine' takes away the heart, the mind and spiritual understanding]
- The words the heart in the above scripture is the word – leb - in Hebrew and means: inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding
This problem of fleshly desire highlighted here leads to a separation from God. The Ephesians did not heed these warnings. In Rev 2:4-5 we see that 30 years later they were on the verge of losing it all.
I believe a lot of our problems arise because we don’t know how the Holy Spirit operates and how we then interact and react to this prompting or unction of the spirit in our lives.
1Jo 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
1Jo 2:27 But the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and no lie, and as He has taught you, abide in Him.
Note: the Holy Spirit is in me and operates through and inner unction or knowing. There is no sensing or feelings involved.
We know that Satan has always been using our senses and our fleshly lusts to deceive us.
From Eve (looks good to eat, pleasant to the eyes, Gen 3:6) to David (Bathsheba- very beautiful to look upon 2Sam 11:2) right through to Jesus (makes these stone turn to bread Mat 4:3) Satan has made an appeal on our senses to try to get us to follow him. He knows if we bow to our fleshly desires we are following the world and not God’s will.
1 Jo 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
1 Jo 2:16 because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
We currently have a nice “feel good” religion being preached in the church today that will get you into hell!
Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemed right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
People are baited into churches through entertainment. The only way to keep them there is to keep them entertained by feeding their fleshly desires. We must stop following our fleshly desires/lust and get grounded in solid Word teaching leading to eternal life!
Joh 8:31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him: “If you continue in My Word, you are My disciples indeed And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
I believe that these current false prophets and teachers are just a shadow of the real spirit of the anti-Christ allowed by God to give us “practise” time and to teach us how to discern the truth from the false. These current false prophets and teachers are still obvious in their errors but when the real “angel of light” comes, he will be much more slick and crafty and if you are not “awake” and “prepared” he WILL “catch” you.
If we cannot discern these current false people, how will be able to discern the final false prophet?
*~*~*~*~*
Here is a quote that sums up just how demonic this ‘slain in the spirit / calling fire’ thing is from Nancy Flint who worked for John Wimber, Vineyard Movement / Toronto Blessing (see link of list of names below for Interfaith movement) and had this to say about their devious practises; “… run the gamut from introducing heretical doctrine, to manipulation of spiritual forces through the bringing down of “fire” from heaven, virtually all pockets of resistance to this global movement have been overcome… Literally thousands of church leaders have been trained and “deployed” into “power” positions from this seminary.”
If this above highlighted in red does not scare you, then…I don’t know what will…actually that entire quote above is frightening because it also tells us that these false preachers have infiltrated the very core of the church, that practically every church is infected and any resistance to this poisonous takeover has been overcome.
I just want to point out something. Some people are confusing ‘fleshly’ desires with good works. For example, they are saying, ‘but surely if you are hungry and poor that is a fleshly desire.” This is not what this article is taking about. The fleshly desire that is spoken about here is the desire to associate a false spirit with that of the Holy Spirit. Lastly the sentence above that uses I, WE, OUR; someone said it’s difficult to worship or pray without using the words I, we, our. Again, that is not what this article is saying, of course we use the words I, we, our, in a sentence everyday, all day, how else do you complete a sentence about yourself to someone else. You take this article and you find silly arguments to detract from the seriousness of allowing oneself to be overruled by false spirits because some prefer to disobey the Word of God and follow ‘fleshly desires’. False teaching and false/fleshly desires (deception, allowing yourself to be taken in by false spirits producing false feelings) go hand in hand.]
To think that once upon a time I stood on a pulpit and stated that the ‘fire of God is about to hit this place’. I sincerely thought that fire meant conviction. (This is the mess we get into when we follow habits and methods other are using)
Fire did come into the meeting – people at the back were taking off their shoes and almost seemingly walking on coals. It was a real ‘holy ghost’ meeting with weird manifestations.
I was blind, leading the blind.
Thank God for His rebuke, His correction, His patience, His Mercy.
Yet, you know – even in those days I suspected something was not right. I was spending too much time ‘praying in the spirit’ and being busy with ministry things. Zero bible study or learning the proper hermeneutics for biblical interpretation. Zero discernment or rightly dividing the word of truth.
Funny, God still used those days to bring people into repentance and salvation. But at some point you have to pray ‘Lord open my eyes…’
Because you can pick up speed very rapidly on the freefall of deception.
lets just preach the gosple and forgett about all this mess. Everyone seems to have have the only truth. thats why we are in the mess we are in.
Titus
You are more than welcome to forget about everything. I would like to be able to continue to discuss and WARN about the FACT that we are being led astray like cattle to the slaughter and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer the truth anymore (the mess), but everything else is ok, that being, the gospel you want to preach instead – that everything is the truth except Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Titus,
That is a self-refuting statement; if everyone claims to have the truth then everyone minus those that actually have the truth have to be wrong. (Trust me, maths is not that difficult)
Your line of reasoning is what exactly? That we all come together and by unity we establish the truth? That’s luciferian, we would all be in error then.
The truth has already been established – it’s not a it, it’s a person; Jesus Christ. He is the word. The way, the TRUTH, the life.
Let’s all just preach the gospel? Which one? The prosperity gospel, the social gospel, the works gospel, the humanist gospel, the liberal gospel?
Can you show some manners & intellectual etiquette and actually support these one line statements with some content or reasoning.
Deborah, thanks for the article. Very interesting.
I have been struggling with this very problem of how to warn family and friends about this issue.
Is it possible for me to contact you or for you to e-mail me , as I have some specific questions for you re Angus Buchan and some of his associates.
Thanks
Werner
You can contact me via the email address mentioned here: About this Blog/Rules let’s see what we can do to help. This issue is spiritual, we are not battling flesh.
I just had to share- the Holy Spirit did such a neat work today! We live in Colorado, USA and I subscribe to your email updates. Last night we rented this little movie about a farmer having faith- yep, Faith Like Potatoes. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. But today I checked my email and saw the great post on the false prophets, most specifically Angus Buchman and scratched my head because I have never heard of him over here. But, sure enough, we figured out quickly that this little movie we were watching was about the ministry of none other than…Angus Buchman! Needless to say, we returned that movie PDQ. This serves as a perfect example of iron sharpening iron- I received truth from your website and share the same with my friends/family. That’s the Body- working in unison! Thanks!
Wow mom4truth thank you! I’ve always wondered how the movie Faith like Potatoes is viewed by people outside South Africa. Now there is a movie called Fire Proof as well which many people are finding to be a super dooper movie not realising who producers are the same people that did Angus’ faith like potatoes movie. And that they all fall under the Joel’s army camp.
Angus’ ministry was raised by Apostolic Reformation individuals from the USA who came to SA like Mike Bickle and Rick Joyner etc and then in a round about way George Otis Jr who set up the (Spiritual Warfare Dept) for C.Peter Wagner at the New Apostolic Reformation ‘headquarters’. George Otis Jr helped Graham Power (South Africa Business man) organise the ‘Global Day of Prayer’ and Graham Power and Angus Buchan are buddies. There is a church here in South Africa called Moreletta Park (Gemeente) NG Churh (Kerk) who are Apostolic through and through with a touch of Word of Faith and just make things worse Emergent as well.
The first foothold in SA however was John G Lake, William Branham and then the Word of Faith movement stepping in with Rhema Church. Kennith Hagin Ministries offspring. I am sure there were tons of others who helped build this country up for this point in time.
Anyhow that info is more for South Africans lol. But just to show you that we have big probs. here in South Africa.
Agree – I too have been struggling with this very problem of how to warn family and friends about these issues – to the point of (regrettably) fretting & angst. In my circle I am “warned” by people wrapped up in this theology to “not fall away”. Most are not prepared to study further for themselves much less dig deeper into the word as you do… Many thanks
Although I have been brought up in the church al my life, I am only recently a converted Christian truly accepting Jesus Christ in my heart and life. I will be the first to admit I am not an expert yet in all of the Word of God, but note the…”yet”. Since Jesus is my light and truth and with the Holy Spirit residing within me I cannot get enough of Gods wonderful Word.
Why am I even writing here you might ask. Well its simple. See before Jesus became part of my life I was led by man, by what men said and that road led me to becoming a borderline Atheist. Borderline? Yeah God’ grace saved me from ever truly renouncing God.
Even though I am not an expert as stated above, and does not Judge any of the “false” prophets as mentioned, all I can say is read God’s Word first. Never blindly follow the words of men even if they speak in the authority of Christ. Jesus is the one and only teacher so why not read, learn and follow His words? He gave all we need for salvation within a brilliantly preserved Holy book. Remember your salvation is at stake. Ask the question, if a “man of God” is wrong and you followed him your salvation is lost, but if you chose not to follow him and he was a man of God, but rather followed the Word of God you will not lose your salvation because you did not follow the man. I hope that makes sense.
In short read your Bible, follow the one true Teacher in Jesus Christ, and if you go to church or belong to some denomination always test a mans word against that of God…
Thank you. This is so informative.
Also found a interesting Open Letter to Mr Buchan on website. http://www.graceunlimited.org
It is a long 50 page letter and you can also listen to a 2 part sermon done by Alan Lester on this. Very interesing.
Elmarie
That link is under construction? Got another one to go too?
To be honest I find the writing of Jean Joubert to be disturbing. I am glad to get off this site. I appreciate your need to live the truth of the scriptures but you have picked on the wrong person in Angus Buchan. I have read his book – his journey of faith -It is excellent. I have been at a mission where he has preached the word of God – Excellent He has the gift of discernment regarding people who come to missions. He will be able to discern well what you have written. What is wrong is you are uneasy in an atmosphere where God by His Spirit has the freedom to work. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives by invitation and also comes upon us like He came upon the disciples in the scriptures. I hope you receive the healing from God which you need and we all need. Barbara
Barbara Smyth
Please read all the articles about Angus Bucan on this blog.
# Elza Meyer Attacked by Demons, Saved by Son
# Angus Buchan and the Promise Keepers
# Graham Power & Angus Buchan – The Transformation of Africa
# National Initiative for the Reformation of South Africa – NIRSA
# Kathryn Kuhlman – The Interfaith Faith Healer
# Turn2God at the Union Buildings was…
# Stand Up and be Counted – Might Men Conference 2010
# What did YOU think Revival meant?
# The Dominionist Faith of Angus Buchan – Faith Like Potatoes
# Cindy Jacobs – Right Wing Xtian Nazi Communist
# Faith & Reason Conference (10-15 May 2010 – South Africa)
and you can also read here http://1joh4.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/angus-buchan-benny-hinn-and-god-tv/
To be able to discern the truth from the lie is very important.
One does not need healing for Biblical discernment as it is a Gift from God.
Angus Buchan likes to mention Benny Hinn and Kathryn Kulman often, and they are also associated with false teachings and some times even demonic teachings.
Barbara Smyth
Also read here please.
Spiritual Deception, Revival and Angus Buchan
Prof. Johan Malan, South Africa (May 2010)
http://www.bibleguidance.co.za/Weekly/117%20BuchanEng.htm
Barbara Smyth
Why do you call Oom Angus’ preaching excellent when he does not preach repentance and faith in Jesus Christ crucified for sinners? Below is my comment on another thread. It includes Oom Angus’ “conversion”. In it you will not find anything about Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins. You may find his teaching excellent, but on what grounds do you defend it as Christian?
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