Benny Hinn is aberrant in many ways and says many things that no servant of Christ ought to say either in public or private, and whether or not he is born again, the Lord will bring him to account for what he has said and done in his ministry, as He will do with Justin Peters, Brannon Howse, Jimmy DeYoung, Tom Ice, Thomas A. McMahon, Paul Barreca, Mark Dinsmore, Berit Kjos, Christine Pack, and David James – the whole kit and caboodle (did I spell that right?). Just as He will do with all of His servants – all of us – we either get a crown and are commended for our works or they get burned up. There will be many works burned up.
Brannon Howse spends precious air time lambasting other Christians and criticizing them, and does nothing else besides this but sell his CDs, subscriptions, and tickets to his conferences. He’s trying to sell as many copies of his book, Religious Trojan Horse, and he forgets that he’s become the Religious Trojan Horse in God’s body by using his program to speak evil of others, rather than concentrate on sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to people who need Him, and who will not in any way benefit from his tirades against fellow ministers of the Gospel with whom he has differences of opinion over practice of doctrines. He forgets that though doctrine is an important element in speaking the truth, doctrine does not save, but Christ saves, and preaching Christ saves, not attacking another person. It’s interesting that his book, Religious Trojan Horse is not available through Amazon.com, and the DVD presentation of Religious Trojan Horse is currently unavailable, and it is not known if and when it will be on Amazon.com, interesting.
The more Howse fulminates against other Christian Evangelicals, and carries on like some kind of self-righteous religious gossip columnist, the more evident it is becoming that he has begun to resemble more and more a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I’m not saying here that this is what he is, I’m saying that he is beginning to resemble one. Now why do I say that? Because, as I’ve explained previously, the characteristics of a wolf in sheep’s clothing is that it is in the sheepfold, it looks like the sheep because it adorns itself in the same accoutrements the sheep wear, but strikes at an opportune time against the sheep inside the fold. They may be dressed like the sheep, look like the sheep, be in the sheepfold with the sheep, but they are not the sheep.
Brannon Howse and his “discernment” ambulance chasing heresy hunters, spend most of their time looking inside the Christian Church for new targets they can set their sights on. This is not the behavior of one brother towards another, but of wolves in our midst attacking the flock inside the fold. It cannot be clearer. The more these men do this, the more they begin to take on the spiritual physiognomy of the enemy of the sheepfold, because their attacks are almost exclusively against the sheep, and this is not what Christ has called God’s children to do. Of course, they would retort that they’re only trying – as they put it – “contend for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints” – but as I’ve warned many times previously, neither their behavior towards other Christians or the methods they employ are biblical. What’s more, they’ve been warned about this by many fellow servants of Christ both privately and publicly, and have ignored every warning as they have continued unabated using the same discredited methods against fellow servants of Christ.
For Christians, this is the fate that awaits every one of us who serve the Lord according to His calling and election:
According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
(1Corinthians 3:10-15)
And what does it says about those who by God’s grace, whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life at Christ’s coming? Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:1-3) And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. (Hebrews 9:27-28)
As for the false prophets, false teachers who peddle God’s Word, it will be different. Their names will be blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life, and they will be unknown, just as the Lord declared to the Church at Sardis, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelations 3:5)
There is a great divide and difference between the people whom these brethren criticize so easily, who are brethren, and those who are not, and they must have the discernment and knowledge of the Scriptures, and the compassion of the Holy Spirit of God, to know the difference, and act accordingly. Thus far, they have not.
We are given this warning:
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
(Matthew 7:15-19)
Now, we can learn from this Scripture; this warning, because although it deals primarily as a warning of the wolves in sheep’s clothing among us and really applies to false prophets and false teachers – not believers, and warns about the kind of works they produce – their fruits – and speaks of their fate – it also serves to illustrate that if we do not behave and speak as mature Christians in the faith towards one another and towards outsiders, there will be a season of disciplining until we learn, and it is best that this happen if and when we do err, that have us stand before Him some day and be asked to give an account for our displeasing ways towards one another and towards Him. I’d rather be disciplined now and learn from Our Heavenly Father through His Word, and the good counsel of the Holy Spirit in whatever manner God chooses to communicate this to me, than not to listen to Him and have to account for it later before His presence.
This is why it is such an egregious thing to so easily classify someone as a false teacher or false prophet without first doing “one’s homework” – their research, full and thorough about that person, even meet with them, and speak with them about their beliefs, their faith, and their teachings; before making any public announcements about them. I firmly believe that as believers, our salvation is sealed with Christ’s blood and the impartation of the Holy Spirit until the day of our full redemption (body, soul, and spirit), so what we teach or don’t teach does not have a bearing on this thing alone. Everyone sees in part and knows in part right now, and this is why there are so many points of view, and we all ought to be mindful of those things. More often than not, we aren’t, and these people who make their living looking for heresy – what I call “ambulance chasing heresy hunters” – different from apologists.
Apologists defend the faith against those who try to destroy it – the “Christian” cults who deny different key fundamental confessions of the Christian Faith such as the deity of Christ, His bodily resurrection and ascension, His virgin birth and conception by the Holy Spirit, etc., Secular Humanism, Darwinism, the racist and Anti-Semitic Black Israelite Movement, the LDS Mormons, the false Hebrew Roots Movement, the Jehovah’s Witnesses of the Watchtower Bible and Track Society, Anti-Christ New Age teachings and beliefs, Ecumenicism, Post-Modernism, Liberal Christianity, Liberal and Black Liberation Theology, and many other heterodox teachings. These are what we are to contend our faith with and against, not other Christians. This is the difference between contending for the faith and defending it against heretics and unbelievers versus being contentious with our brothers and sisters over the smallest of matters.
Ah yes, but Brannon Howse is often heard saying on his Worldview Weekend radio broadcasts, “These are not small things.” I’ve heard him use this phrase, and then proceeded to twist the meaning of what Eric Barger meant about secondary and tertiary differences among brethren. These are brethren, you’re bashing in public Brannon, brethren! Do you really think that they take any pleasure bringing these things up? Come on man, you know they don’t. It is with great pain that they exhort you, as I do, to stop this tirade against other Christians and calling it “discernment.” It is not.
I’ve heard you attack Dr. James Dobson, James Daly, David Barton, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Pastor James McDonald, and many more in recent years for the smallest infractions which to you were great sins of commission. We’re not called to do this to one another, Brannon. We’re called to speak the truth in love. Is trashing another person’s ministry, speaking against them on the radio in any way speaking the truth in love? The Scriptures teach that love covers a multitude of sins (1Peter 4:8), it doesn’t gossip about them in public and then call it contending for the faith or “defending sound biblical teachings,” as you claim. No brother, Eric is correct, and so was Jan, and Jill, and others like Chris; people you’ve known for years and have turned on like a roaring lion. You don’t do that to your Christian family, you don’t do that to Christian brethren, and least of all you don’t do that to close friends you’ve known and worked with for many years! No sir, your behavior and public statements, and those of the close knit circle of “discerners” are not biblical and not in any way discerning or deserving. You don’t do that to people you love. There is no love in you sir. Not one ounce. And if the manner in which you and your colleagues express is your version of Christ’s love, then I think you and they need to return to the Scriptures and prayerfully seek Christ about how to express it, because your methods, public statements, behavior, and fruits are not those the Scriptures teach are engendered by the Holy Spirit, which are, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Brannon, do you really think that when you go on air and complain and criticize other Christian brethren and their work and ministries, you are doing God a service? Do you really believe that people want to tune into your show to hear you publicly bash and trash another in the name of Christ and presumably for His service? Do you really believe in your heart of hearts that this is what give Christ glory? You and Jimmy DeYoung, and the rest are not lifting a finger to reach out to those with whom you have differences. Don’t you believe that if you have something against your brother, you ought to reach out to him/her in love, and inquire directly with them about what you’re putting them open reproach for? Can you honestly say that when you use your microphone as a bully pulpit to trash and smear others, you are exhibiting any of these traits? Is this any way to speak the truth in love, with gentleness, forbearance, and humility? And how is Christ being glorified by it? How is that other person being helped? How is the body edified? How is your audience being ministered to?
Brannon, Jimmy, Justin, Thomas, Dereck, David, Gary, and Paul – brethren; there is a choice before you all. You either take your ministries very serious and reexamine what you have said and done towards other Christians in the body, and seek the Lord’s grace in this, that you’d be shown where there is room for change – and gentlemen, no matter how well you might think you have it – there is always room for improvement, and if you don’t agree with that, then you need to change your thinking and reexamine your hearts, because it is not I who say this but the Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle Paul, where he writes:
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
(1Corinthians 10:12-13)
You’ve gotten blow back from many for these methods, and we have all been guilty of this more times than we can count, and want to admit to; but it’s time you examine yourselves, and seek God about these things, change your thinking and behavior so that your methods may also change. Do what Priscilla and Aquila did with Apollos, reach out privately to your brethren with whom you differ, and discuss your differences privately before you make them public on your radio stations and the Internet. I’ve been writing to you about this for almost two years, and to this hour, you’ve ignored me and many others who’ve admonished you this way. Do what is right. Do what is biblical. Do what would bring glory to Christ, and not dishonor His name and His testimony by smearing your brethren and holding them to open reproach before the world.
Now another trait of many “ambulance chasing heresy hunters” is that they seldom, if ever, go outside of their own narrow circle of friends and associates, and are a tightly knit unit with suspicions and apprehensions against those outside of their small circle of “trusted godly men” even though those outside may be genuine Evangelical Christian brethren. And this is precisely the type of behavior we are expressly told in Scripture to avoid, for James writes in the Holy Spirit:
My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
(James 2:1-13)
Elsewhere we see Christ address a group such as this with these words, which forms another characteristic of theirs – self-promotion, but promotion of one another, not for God’s glory, but for their own gain:
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?”
(John 5:44)
Christ has made it clear what those who peddle themselves for self-gratification and riches are all about, and He is not like that, and we may assume be extension, neither should we be. I quote:
“He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
(John 7:18)
In other words, Christ did not seek His own glory, but sought to glorify His Father – the One who sent Him for us, and therefore for us to be true, and righteousness in His righteousness to our calling in Him, we must be like Him, and not like these self-promoting religious telemarketers on TV and radio, and on the Internet. Again, I repeat, we may surmise biblically from the plain meaning of His statements, that the Lord’s followers ought to be as He is, and not self-serving, self-promoting hypocrites. Remember, Christ said, You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So then, you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:16, 20) Is there anything wrong in me pointing this out to you as a concerned brother, exhorting you in love to change course? Will I not hold myself to the same biblical standards that I exhort you to adapt?
Some of these “discerners,” although they will not admit it, they do practice a double standard when someone from their own group errs, or is seen as a guest no a television program they themselves disapprove of, and attack others such as Jonathan Cahn for attending. They do not treat Christians outside of their circle as they do each other. This too is hypocritical and typical trait of men, even some brethren sometimes. Well, we’re seeing it with these brethren.
John the Baptist declared:
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
(Matthew 3:11, see also Luke 3:16)
Those whom God loves, He chastises (Proverbs 3:12, Hebrews 12:6, Revelations 3:19), the Gardener of our souls prunes every tree in His garden (John 15:1-2), and though we are not cut off (like it happens to the false prophet or false teacher of Matthew 7:15-23) it is through the searing fire of affliction that each tree that does not bear good fruit is put through when it strays too far in loving discipline in order to bring them to repentance and full restoration, as Christ has said, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (John 15:6) As for those who wanted to “go it alone” – without God in the world – they are given over to their passion; for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22a); not abiding in Him, and therefore are like a broken branch that withers and dies, separated from the vine, and is discarded. This is a very bad place to be. It is a wilderness experience, and I do not believe that there is not a person who has not been through one at one point in their lives or another.
If repentance takes place, it is restored and again the penitent believer is tenderly pruned more by the Lord during the healing process since He always receives us back to Himself in His grace as He has taught us from His story of The Prodigal’s Son (Luke 15:11-32), even Israel’s regrafting (Romans 11:17-24), so that we may grow in all respects in Him and in Him bear much fruit (John 15:4-5). He never gives up on us, because “a battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory. And in His name the nations will hope” (Matthew 12:20-21), but He tends His vineyard carefully. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
He refines us through the fires of affliction until we come out reflecting His image, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold,” (Job 23:10) shining brightly as the stars that are in the sky (Daniel 7:27). The sky is dark, as is the darkness around us, but when we shine in Christ, we stand out, because of the light that is in us in contrast to the darkness all around us. He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) We must all seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6) Though He is not far from us, but is very near. (Isaiah 50:8, Hebrews 7:25) We must love Him with all of our hearts and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12, 11:13, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30), as He prunes us now, refines us now; for He does it for our good and for His glory, because people see Him through us. We must remember that. We best be very careful, because He warns everyone in the following manner, though we have seen that the other part of this passage deals with false prophets and false teachers who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, and not true servants of the Most High:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
(Matthew 7:21-23)
Miracles or a lack of miracles are not the yardstick by which we measure faith and a person’s ministry, but their fruits (James 2:14-27); their works speak for them, either justifying that they are who they claim to be (Matthew 7:21), or they are something else.(James 2:18-20) The false teachers and false prophets are not brethren! If they were brethren, they’d be preaching Christ as Lord, and the Gospel of Salvation; instead they peddling a false materialistic self-centered and self-serving prosperity gospel, and are constantly magnifying themselves, while they hold lengthy marathons to shake down more gullible widows for more money.
These are not servants of Christ, Brannon, they’re religious telemarketers. Can’t you tell the difference!!!???? You claim to have discernment, but you lack serious discernment when it comes to other Christians whom you’ve consigned to hell for the infraction of being seen at the wrong place in the company of someone you disapprove! Who do you really think you are! We are warned against this type of behavior by the Lord Himself, when He strongly exhorted us in this manner:
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
(John 7:24)
But these brethren are quick to speak, quick to judge, quick to become judge, jury, and executioner with their own brothers and sisters in the faith before they do all of the above. This is what I take them to task about, not because I am any better than they; but because it is not biblical behavior, it is not the fruits of the Spirit put to work in the midst of such testing.
Because no matter how one sees it, false teachings and aberrant doctrines are a form of a test and a trial put on a believer to compel him/her to go to God’s Word to see if what is being taught supports Scripture – not the other way around – Scripture is not meant to support doctrine, but doctrine must support what Scripture says, otherwise it is aberrant.
When the Community of believers at Corinth began to split into factions; each embracing a favorite teacher, a favorite apostle, or a favorite leader; they began to examine aspects or teachings of each and choosing among themselves their favorite whose teachings they would embrace above the others, Paul wrote sternly to them in what has come to be known as his First Letter to the Corinthians, though it is believed now to have been his second of four. This is what he wrote:
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
(1Corinthians 1:10-13)
But regarding himself and how others saw him, this is what he wrote them:
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
(1Corinthians 4)
Jose J. Bernal
“THE PEPSTER”
Systems Analyst
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