There is a mix inside this movement .. some do not preach the bible at all, other just manhandle it in all manners., this runaway train can only be described as a straight up cult in many senses, the laxed way of not teaching doctrine content and making the bible about man, then actually noting it is about God alone
One such leader of this movement is called : Perry Noble;
Ignore the jack-ass : In Greek Jackass is translated blogger, how did it get to you"the lord gave it to me" when i was in Kenya we were in a village called kenderia have like a village meeting under the big tree (that's what it known as) there was this guy with a team of elders, he was like the spokes man and he was casting visions. a donkey about 15 feet away suddenly freaks our going eeyore, Eeyore and kicking and stuff, the man never gave it any attention kept on with casting visions I felt the lord tell me thats the problem with the church today, too much paying attention to the jack-ass (bloggers who selectively cite your sermons and makes doubtful remarks) and not casting visions
Here is a section from a speech from the unleashed conference where we see that the one thing perry states, to ignore the jack-ass (logger) he does not do very well in saying the critics who decide to examine and see if he is being biblical or not in his sermons, which all Christian are told to do biblically. this kind of response shows that he does not understand how the bible tells us to judge what the church elders teach the bible to the sheep
notice how the bible tells us to live a life of discernment in all that we come across .. whether it is of false religions or even false teaching with in the church;
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.--- 1 timothy 3:1-3
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.--- 2 timothy 3:14-17
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.--- 2 timothy 4 :1-5
These passage from the letters to timothy who by the way was an elder in many of the early groups of believers (church) and Paul made it clear that the elders (shepherds of the flock) must teach the bible with a fair and balanced approach, which is called rightly handling the word of God"
the fact is made clear upon reading such texts as the above, now how does the bible tell us to handle the as individual believers
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” -- 2 timothy 2:15-19
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. ---- 1 peter 3:15-16
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. --- Jude 1 :3-4
Here we are told as believers to not only study but to go deep into the bible for complete assurance of the faith that is ours, but also we are given instruct to give a defense for the hope that is ours, and we are given the right to judge whether what we are being taught is biblically sound, therefore, based on the above comments made about the critic not being saved, not be fair, and judgement (a jack-ass) is resulting in fallacious reasons, adhominum attack and proves nothing
Now lets examine the teaching of one false teacher called Steven furtick, in a sermon series called one prayer, where his talk is named "unstoppable power" to see if this mans teachings are even biblically ascertainable;
1) I believe that the unstoppable power of God is the strongest inside the box when you start with what you have, yes I've made mistake. no, I'm not perfect. yes, I have limitations. no, I'm not good at some thing but there are some things that God has made me good at. there are some things i can do, there are some ways I can servethere is something I have to give, I want to challenge you today like peter and john; "Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” acts 3 :6 I might not have much but I have a hand and when I reach down with whatI have and give you all I have and when Gods everything comes to my little bit, it rally becomes something .This message when it is analyzed we realize that this purpose driven teacher to which we must label as narcissistic driven eisegetical falsehood, based on this short message we get a picture that either Steven is in love with himself and loves to make himself the centre of all things or the purpose driven theology is nothing more than self help, selfish driven false hood
Notice, he then take a beautiful text of scripture and makes it about himself, the problem is this, the gospel is not about us, it is about God getting the glory through Christ. lets consider the passage;
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. (acts 3:1-10)
When one allows the context to define its own purpose then we see Peter and John being used by God to bring forth a miracle which is by Jesus' power of anointing in their lives by the spirit of God .. these apostle are nothing more than instruments, the point in this is that they would never have wanted to have this work of God attributed to them,
when it is not in their mere capacity to even perform such feats of supernatural origins
There is no way for us to even come to this text and assume our own persons into the text to divert it way from the only person the gospel about, Jesus Christ, now what else does peter say in this passage;
While the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon’s Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see. (acts 3:11-16)
Peter's response to the inquiring crowds who were assuming that the miracle was done by their own ability, notice his words "by faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong" in other words this man was healed by Jesus who was working through the apostles by the spirit
The whole chapter is contextually about the Lord who came to be our redemption from God and reconciliation to the father.
In this attempt at making the Gospel of Christ about man rather than it being declared by the preacher as being solely about Christ, this man has made it clear that he can not even exegete the passage, in that it will reveal God plan of redemption through his son, and all men have fallen short and are in a continual sinful state
Here is the next section of a sermon that Steven gives on the theme of "how great God is" where we are met with the following statement;
2) so let me take 2 or 3 minutes to remained you 'how great God is" your God is so good that when Moses asked him whats your name and who shall i say to the Israelites has sent me Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to youGod could not confine himself to particular description so he pronounce his presence by saying "I AM WHAT I AM", i think a good interpretation of that statement in a modern translation would be ... what ever you need that's what I am check this out; if you have a financial deficiency, if you ever are depressed or need Joy and peace , then God being the ultimate provider will bless your needs and give you what ever you desire , because that is who he is.This kind of understanding of a biblical text should set a true Christian feeling very disappointed for this man has twisted scripture in something which is barely recognizable, instead of honoring God and his word and teaching it with awe and respect, he has shows such a great dishonor by making it about a personal need to having God fulfill ones own desire
Does exodus 3 13-14 really teach that God is just one big cosmic dispenser of human financial need and human happiness, or does it actually teach that God is sovereign in his own right in the affairs of man;
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:1-6, 11-15
Here is the passage which this gentlemen is referring to as evidence for this seeker sensitive man centered philosophical a historical, unbiblical falsehood but we must ask is this the picture either God is providing or that Moses is demonstrating, that God is just a cosmic man pleaser. I submit this god which this man and other like him promotes is a figment of his imagination
Now we will give a brief view of this passage in light of the event and the chapters ahead which are apart of the overall picture of Moses prophet hood and calling;
A) this event has no bearing upon the selfish preaching of such narcissistic ego driven individuals such as this man and others like him, in fact, it only serves a single purpose which is that God demonstrates his savior hood by the means of Moses of his first Prophet.
B) even upon considering Moses' role in this event it is one of divine compassion and choice, he is one of the vessels in which God delights to reveal his divine will and purposes for humanity through. how ever, this does not mean that we should draw selfish principals from this event when there are truly none.
C)next, we see that God is the only one whom is glorified in this event, not Moses, not the Pharaoh and certainly not Steven furtick, so after given a false presentation based on exodus 3, we see this man is just sinful and unregenerate
D) lastly, the point of corrupting Gods description from "I am what I am" to making it saying "whatever you want that is what I am", this is eisegesis in it's most pure from, there is no reason to except this
Here
is the next section of a sermon that Steven gives on the theme of "David and galioth" from code orange series, where we are met with the following statement;B) even upon considering Moses' role in this event it is one of divine compassion and choice, he is one of the vessels in which God delights to reveal his divine will and purposes for humanity through. how ever, this does not mean that we should draw selfish principals from this event when there are truly none.
C)next, we see that God is the only one whom is glorified in this event, not Moses, not the Pharaoh and certainly not Steven furtick, so after given a false presentation based on exodus 3, we see this man is just sinful and unregenerate
D) lastly, the point of corrupting Gods description from "I am what I am" to making it saying "whatever you want that is what I am", this is eisegesis in it's most pure from, there is no reason to except this
3) When Samuel the prophet was sad in his heart because the king he had anointed over Israel, the first king it had ever known, his name was Saul he had gone bad and he had lost his way and his heart had become proud, stubborn. and so the LORD was going to remove him as king and Samuel was really disappointed about that. I came to give you an instruction out of the word of God today that God himself gave to the prophet Samuel, he said "fill your horn with oil and be on your way for everyone that is mourning a moment that past I want you to come to terms with the fact you cant get that moment back I came to tell you that moment is gone and a new moment is here, and if you'll just fill your horn with oil, the oil of the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness. God has a fresh filling for you as you go off to this new year.
Here is the third installment of Steven's deceptiveness and again we find him butchering the biblical Revelation just to make himself and his followers feel it is about them, when there is nothing in the text about him, nor about his followers, there is nothing about anyone in this day and age in this narrative
So what is this passage about let us examine;
The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.----- Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.1 samuel 16 :1-5, 10-13
Here we have a greater portion of the context in which we learn that Samuel initially had great distress over Gods decision to dethrone Saul, but Gods choice was based on a good reason seen in the previous chapter.where Saul deliberately went against Gods command to lay waste of all the inhabitant of amalek .... "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (vs 4) but upon his return we learn that he kept many animals alive for his own purpose ... this kind of seems like another encounter in Israelites history (numbers 31)
And with this as our back drop to the events that proceed where Saul loses his divinely instilled position as a king, and God sends samuel to anoint David as king. so we see there is nothing in this account to which this pastor can pull apart and utilise to promote his own theories
this passage is not something that this man can say applies to this day nor to himself as he is not being spoken of
we learn the following facts from this
A) its about the anointing of David as the king of Israel, he is the only person who has been addressed in this chapter, a very significant point
B) all King Davids brother were passed over in this event, which tells us that it is not universal in any manner but specific in nature
C) this text all have an interesting connection Gods sovereign choice, or predestination, but that is another issue.. unrelated
Here is the next section of a sermon that Steven gives on the theme of "", where we are met with the following statement;
4) When i was 16 years old, a pastor gave me a copy of Jim cymbala called 'fresh wind, fresh fire on page 23. there was this sentence "I despaired at my life might slip by without God showing himself mighty on our behalf" some time later something gripped my heart and i knew i was God was wanting me to be pastor in a big city. even the bible taught me this truth And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.’For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones (2 kings 3 :16 -19) nothing is difficult for our God. in fact, the size of the vision you have for your ministry and your life is imtidating for you, there is a good chance it is insulting to God.
Here we have an important glimpse into the mindset of this whole philosophy in that it makes man in control, rather than recognising that God is in control of all areas of creation, even more important, he is the one who leads his elect into their ministries.
this is a classic case of thinking to much of oneself as he is giving a story about his own life as a helpful way of teaching Christ people (if they are of the lord)
While I will not speak on the book as I have no desire to say anything directly on it, except that a pastor / elder should never quote from anything other than the bible and give sound exegetical based proclamations
which unfortunately we are not being given in this sermon, therefore I will give a brief understanding of this biblical passage
In the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made.Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it. Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” And Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.” The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water. (2 kings 3 :1-19)
If this wanna be preacher actually took the time to understand the passage he would learn that this passage is not a user friendly passage at all, and his selectivity in what he takes to make his self centered message seem more biblical in approach, he would see that he has condemned himself as a rebellious being, for when we allow context to speak ... we see that these men were being judged for their evil actions "No; it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab"
The next thing to note is that the promises made in this chapter are in accords to defeating people in battle, and I do not believe this could possible be connected to any Christian living that is described in the new testament at all. as not one of the people this pastor is talking to are of the nation of Israel, or moab this does not apply
as 3 kings are the prime persons in this chapter we have a second issue that removes this from being about us
Here is the final section of a sermon given by perry noble at the "the code orange revival", where we are met with the following statement;
5) all of us speakers have what we call a candy stick message, so i pullud out one and God said you're not preaching that one. God took me to a passage of scripture that I never preached before "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."elevation church you are blessed, and here are 3 reasons why, (a) because of what you have seen .. the text says" all the things you have witnessed due to Stevens ability (b) you are blessed for what you have heard, now you have a rumour is... a rumour is something a stupid person says when they don't know the truth, one rumour is that Steven does not preach the bible, he is the only pastor I know that quotes the bible.
This statement leads us the most important points in a elders role in the church, in both examples of Steven as seen in the last four examples and here in the words of perry noble, an elder/ pastor is suppose to get himself out of way of the word, and allow the word of God to speak for its own course instead of speaking ones own ideals into the text
and apart of this is not eisegetically (read into the text) interfere with it, but to exegetically interpret the scriptures (read out of the text)
1) The first point to assess is just what is this "candy stick message" if by this he means a cleverly designed speech fit around an unbiblical premise such as
Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. Matthew 13 :10 -17
The major point being discussed in this passage is the fact that Jesus of nazareth is the center of the whole bible, there is one point being made in this two times, in vs 11 and vs 16-17 that to a certain group the truth of Christ has been revealed with the most intimate clarity, but to the rest it is kept hidden which is the purpose of parables
we can also gather this picture in Matthew 11: 20-30, Luke 24 : 13 -34 and also in john 5 : 38 -47 gives us the same information, note johns word which are very specific in nature:
and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life john 5 :38 -40
