Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Posted on May 21st, 2008 by David Mackin into the Uncategorized, David Mackin Writes: category
Jesus criticizes the pastor/leaders of his day. Among other things, he describes them as false prophets (Mt. 7:15-20), false wonder workers (Mt. 7:21-23; Mt. 12:38-42), false builders (Mt. 7:24-27) and false teachers (Mt. 12:33-37). He tells his followers that they can recognize these false ministries “by their fruits” (Mt. 7:16, 20; 12:33). What did Jesus mean by the phrase, “by their fruits?”
False prophets pretend to be sheep and/or shepherds in order to get closer to their prey. When they get close enough to the sheep, they ensnare them and then eat them to enrich themselves. The nature of wolves is to live off of eating sheep. As long as they are wolves, they cannot change their sheep-eating nature. Jesus subtly contrasts the wolf nature with the nature of grape vines and fig trees that yield their fruit freely to any passer-by. Wolves are sheep hunters and killers. Grape vines and fig trees are givers and nourishers.
False wonder-workers operate in the gifts of the Spirit. They use the name of Jesus to prophesy, cast out demons, heal the sick and do many mighty supernatural signs. Outwardly, God’s people only see attention-getting, jaw-dropping phenomena. The problem, however, is that what the people do not see is the life of lawlessness that they live when off stage.
False builders erect large buildings, attract huge crowds and grow sizable church organizations and institutions. What they build on the outside attracts much public attention and even influences others to follow their example. The hidden danger, however, is that they have built their entire ministry on a faulty foundation: They encourage the people to come every week to hear the words of Jesus (act as an audience), but they do not insist that the people do the words of Jesus (live as disciples). Eventually, what they have built falls because they have not discipled the people properly on how to weather the inevitable storms of life through demonstrating and insisting that they literally put into practice everything that Jesus tells his disciples to do.
False teachers speak “evil words,” i.e., they promote unbiblical doctrines against the true gospel of Jesus Christ. These false doctrines proceed out of their flesh rather than the Spirit. In this sense, what they teach comes from the wrong source: it comes forth as the “offspring of snakes” rather than the offspring of God.
(Who or what have you seen in the church world today that might fit the description of a false prophet, a false wonder-worker, a false builder or a false teacher? By what “fruits” are you recognizing them?)
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May 21st, 2008 at 11:47 am
Interesting stuff David! I have wondered why there are so many ‘church buildings’ while driving around town. There is really no New Testament reason to have them. I finally came to the conclusion that they are necessary as a ‘control tool’. When people come into ‘your’ building, you get to set the rules, the authority structure etc. Taken to an extreme, you can even decide who gets to stay/leave. I’m glad that Paul wrote in Acts 28:30-31 that for two years he stayed in RENTED quarters preaching the kingdom of God openly to all that came. Why BUY property/buildings that are going to burn up and have no eternal value?
May 21st, 2008 at 10:17 pm
How about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Healing revival? Taking the annointing back to other countries and churches (impartation), people being raised from the dead and healed over cell phones, people gyrating and having seizures, Todd Bentley saying “bam” and nobody falls back so eventually he pushes them (usually by hitting them on the face), prophesies being made non stop…….
This is apparently becoming huge and is supposedly starting other revivals in the US and around the world. Or that is what they claim on stage at Lakeland. The motto is “come and get some”.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 am
Several times I’ve heard mentioned a booklet by Watchman Nee - The Latent Power of the Soul … I’ve never read it, but have heard about it … anyone read that booklet?
You guys might also get some insight by watching these old old clips about the child evangelist Marjo Gortner:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fSdI8ag1k0A
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6O0p4ZDnDoQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p9Kv7XRaKw8
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:30 am
“I’m glad that Paul wrote in Acts 28:30-31 that for two years he stayed in RENTED quarters preaching the kingdom of God openly to all that came.”
Paul rented a place and that proves what? That we are suppose to rent our building and not purchase them? So, I rent my building from someone else and they make money off of me. That flat out makes no logical sense at all.
“Why BUY property/buildings that are going to burn up and have no eternal value?”
Thats like my kid saying “why do I need to take a bath I am going to get dirty anyway”
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 am
David Wrote:
They encourage the people to come every week to hear the words of Jesus (act as an audience), but they do not insist that the people do the words of Jesus (live as disciples). Eventually, what they have built falls because they have not discipled the people properly on how to weather the inevitable storms of life through demonstrating and insisting that they literally put into practice everything that Jesus tells his disciples to do.
David there are probably a few things we are going to debate about and not see eye to eye on but this is not one of them.
This is a chilling reality of where we are at as the church in America. I feel many church leaders are enamored with the crowds and not really focused on making disciples. Just because people sit in the seats do not mean they are disciples. For that matter, just because people claim Christianity doesn’t mean they are Christians.
I was speaking one day and told the church that we ALL are going to have storms of life, we ALL are going to get sick, we ALL are going to struggle at times financially, we ALL are going to loose loved one, we ALL are going to die etc. The looks on a few peoples faces shocked me. I was like “who bewithched you to believe that you are not going to have any problems in life?” Its like we have forced people to stick their head in the sand and when a storm comes babble “there is no storm there is no storm” no..theres a storm!
sorry, i will step off my soap box now…
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:57 am
Yes, I have “The Latent Power of the Soul” in front of me now. It is a small booklet of 86 pages. A key verse in it would be John 5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing.” The idea that we can ’speak’ things into existence, like wealth and healing is moving in ’soul power’. It is not of God. When Jesus taught us to pray, it starts out “Our Father Who art in heaven”. All our requests need to go through the Father. Putting pictures of desired items on the fridge and projecting our thoughts toward getting them is using psychic power. It isn’t a Christian practice!
“A work done by soul strength requires a lot of energy, like shouting, jumping, incessant singing of choruses, or telling a number of moving stories.” Where would the modern charismatic be without this stuff?
I would recommend this booklet to anyone who wants to see through the “prosperity gospel” of today.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
I don’t have a problem with a church having a building…I have a problem with a church teaching heresies about money to pay for the building (and getting rich from the process).
Also, buying a building does nothing to advance God’s kingdom…
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:12 am
OK, maybe I truncated my point a bit. Here is an example; Imago Dei is a large church n Portland. They rent space in a public school building to hold Sunday services. This is FAR less expensive than buying property and maintaining buildings and grounds. The $$ they raise can be used for eternal purposes instead of burdening everyone in the church to constantly ‘dig deep’ for building funds/remodeling. Then, in turn, you don’t need full time people to oversee the facility, ask everyone to volunteer for ‘work details’ every weekend etc…It frees Christians up to do Christian tasks.
Peace
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
I agree 100%. My church does the same thing (rents a convention center only on Sundays), thus it doesn’t take a tithe to the church for the church to run, so we are able to help each other out when we see someone in need.
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Not to be the devil’s advocate here, but… we went to a small church for awhile that rented space. Financially, it was a good decision, but it was difficult for a lot of the helpers:
All the sound equipment had to be set up and taken down and stored somewhere during the week. Likewise the child-care toys and equipment. The set up and clean up time was pretty extensive as well.
If a church has its own building, these are not difficult. Also, that church can use its facilities during the week for other church-related and community activities.
Because of these things, the church did decide to look at a small place they could call their own.
In Bible days, wealthy people often had a large courtyard or other place for a large gathering. Most people don’t have that option in their homes, especially in the NW where weather is a factor. So logistically, a church building is not always a bad thing.
But I agree in essence with David. The building should not be the focus.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 am
“They rent space in a public school building to hold Sunday services. This is FAR less expensive than buying property and maintaining buildings and grounds.”
Do they get concerned that public school would change their mind and end the lease?
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
I haven’t talked with anyone from there for awhile, so I don’t know.
I do know they started out as a group of home churches that banded together, so I would guess they could go back to that easy enough.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
we used to pop into imago dei a couple of years ago. at that time they had just acquired the meeting space at franklin hs, and as anna pointed out, it is a LOT of labor each week for them to set up and tear down…and they have had a financial campaign for quite some time to be able to own their own space.
like anna, my family is also part of a small church. we rent. and because of that we get the space four hours on sunday. that’s it. we make the most of it. we meet up with each other in all kinds of ways and places. that’s the fun part. the hard part is the transient nature of renting. it’s not ours. we can’t do the art we want or the events or community outreach that requires a space bigger than a living room. We are poor, but we are praying, praying, praying that somehow we can have a home to all our own.
That Paul rented is not meant to become a doctrine or bible value. You guys know that! It was relevant and wise for him to do so. In our culture, it is usually wise to own, for all kinds of reasons. It has been pointed out already, and I will say it again, too, that owning a building is not the issue. The issue is money and power and really, church buildings that are hungry for money, but stay empty all week.
I was at a non-prof meeting some time ago and the concern was the lack of space for non-profs in Portland to meet. “Non-profs used to be able to use churches, ” pointed out one person, “but now they are worried about liability and won’t open up their space.”
So our buildings, which are premium meeting space and could be a great resource for so many in the city, end up empty most of the time during the week.
How can churches creatively solve the liability issue and discover reasonable ways to share their space (power) with others who have need for a meeting space? This is what captures my imagination when I think about our little church one day having a place to call our own, and to share…
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
btw, HI ANNA…..! {hug}
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
There’s always a hall available for rent on Sundays, when many businesses are closed. One church I attended for awhile met in the common room of a daycare facility.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
as for Imago Dei, yes, it takes work and they have to get up from 6:30 am to set up. Also parking is an issue since there isnt space available and its a residential area. Neighbors can complain and so can someone who may not like the idea of a church meeting in a public school.
The bible doesnt explicitly forbid churches from having buildings. I cannot understand why my old church had to have about 9 simulcast services in different locations or buildings. If its about same vision, why not train and send off those who are called to preach and pastor? So that they can do the same and more churches are being planted. I’m sure there are others who can do it. Instead, we have to listen to a screen. It’s so impersonal. And I understand about reaching out to the unsaved in the city of Portland but why not network with other pastors and churches? especially considering that there are other MFI churches in the area.
I would like to see all the churches work together and do things like send people out to the missions, host conferences together for a change rather than competing with one another as today like businesses.
was it necessary to add screens in the lobby, extra pointers that are used for GU and conferences? I actually found myself getting very distracted by the lights, fog machines and other stuff during a conference. I think the target of CBC is for pastor, church leaders and businesspeople while others apparently don’t matter as much to their kingdom.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 am
I used to work in children’s ministry at CBC. We also had to do a lot of clean up and putting things back the other way due to the school classrooms being used. It was quite work intensive. Then, of course, there was the constant call for ‘workers’ to show up to do light maintenence
on the grounds and buildings…there goes another Saturday! I don’t see there being any free lunch by owning a building. This isn’t even considering the $$$cost of owning. It seems easy for the building/grounds to become the focus of the church. I strongly object to that!
For awhile, there was a sign at the entrance of CBC at Rocky Butte that said “church main entrance”…something about that started bugging me.
After some time, I specifically asked the Father in prayer about it. What I heard was, “The only entrance to the church is through the blood of Jesus, My Son did not die for a building and a parking lot!” I know that things we hear from the Holy Spirit are subjective, but it certainly has changed my outlook about buildings.
Peace
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Jessi said: How about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland Healing revival? Taking the annointing back to other countries and churches (impartation)…”
Jessi, A friend of ours just informed us that on June 1, 2008, someone from the Seattle Revival Center is going to be sharing with that congregation his/her experiences at the Lakeland Healing Revival. My wife and are don’t know exactly what to expect, but we’re curious enough to go and check it out…
I had a former student of mine from PBC share with me awhile ago how Jesus raised a man from the dead in their church in WA state S. of Seattle. I never asked to see the cancelled Death Certificate, but I saw him as a credible source. If I just see one person raised from the dead in/through the Lakeland Healing Revival, that’ll make me very happy! ; )
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
David, since you taught at PBC, I’m curious what classes did you teach? and when and what made you leave PBC?
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Nina, (I have to give the short version because my wife and I are packing to go out of town for a few days; i won’t mind sharing more later…)
I taught at PBC from 1980 -1989. Some of the classes I taught were: Present Day Truths, Holy Spirit, Leadership I, II, Wisdom Literature, Homiletics (preaching), Pentateuch, Church History, Prayer Life, Christian Citizenship, Synoptic Gospels, etc.
The short of it is this: After me questioning various important doctrines over the 18 years that I was at the church, the senior pastor asked me albeit indirectly to leave the college and the church. “There are lots of other churches in town that could use your talents” was basically what he told me. At first, since I suffered a great deal from codependency at the time, I felt confused and mixed up. I had to go to him a second time several months later with someone else on staff and ask him what he meant. He then said these exact words to me: “If you will become more like us, I will open up more ministry doors for you. But, if you don’t, then I won’t.”
I knew then that my time was up; I knew that I couldn’t become anymore like them.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
It is amazing to me that they a church would feel it necessary to say that they have built a 7 Million Dollar Facility. I think about all of the people that could really be blessed by 7 Million Dollars.
http://www.thechurchlv.com/benny-perez
Perhaps they fall under the false builder category - Benny and Wendy Perez (Wendell’s Daughter)
In 2003, Pastor Benny and his wife Wendy founded The Church at South Las Vegas, which is now the fastest growing church in the city. The Church recently moved into their first building, a beautiful 7 million dollar facility and is ministering to thousands.
One minister states the following about this ministry:
“The words “avoid at all costs” seem appropriate here! This “unique” minister instead gives all appearances of being just another of the 40-ish hirelings sent forth in Disneyland churches to declare a reimagined social gospel and the love of man. I would recommend following 2 Timothy 3:5 about men like Perez who have the appearance of godliness, but [are] denying its power. Avoid such people.”
May 27th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I use to love listening to Benny Perez speak at GU when I was in high school. He seemed really normal and had a great self-deprecating sense of humor and he got excited about stuff.
My idea of him started to change when I was out of high school and went to a random CBC service where they had him pray before tithes & offerings. He went on and on for about 10 minutes about money, money, money and it was really disconcerting. I opened my eyes and just stared at him and the people around me. No one but me seemed at all perturbed. They were nodding their heads and saying “Amen” & “Yes Lord”.
A little over a year ago I was in Las Vegas with a friend and we decided to go to his church since we were there on a Sunday. Money, of course, was an ever present *thing* and Benny did talk about how God had blessed him blah blah blah. But the thing that struck me the most was that in the course of his sermon he actually said he believed/knew that God was coming back IN THE NEXT TEN YEARS. He didn’t just say it — he spent a good amount of time talking about how WWIII was around the corner and the end of the world would be coming in ten years. I thought it was a pretty ballsy thing to say but the congregation was totally into it. At that point I realized he had gone ’round the bend. It was actually pretty sad to see.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Just Thinking, I was at a service once where benny’s father-in-law took 45-50 minutes just for the offering! he was trying to raise money for his friend who was preaching that night…
i don’t know benny or his end time views, but i think that i am observing that some pastor/leaders will jump on any sort of bandwagon, e.g., the end times predicted from the Elijah List and/or The Prophecy Club or John Hagee Ministries, etc. or “returning to one’s Jewish roots,” Christian Zionism and the Messianic movement, and/or the Prosperity Doctrine just to attract larger crowds, which of course can mean more money…the bible has become a sales manual - a guide to fund-raising…
May 27th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Wow, I guess I was listening to a different Benny Perez. I went to two GU conferences where he spoke, and a summer camp. He always seemed super incoherent to me, never making sense or putting things properly together. His messages were loaded with 90% illustrations and jokes and stupid stuff that really didn’t matter, and only 10% Bible. I always used to ask myself “is this guy for real? He don’t make any sense.” Then I got really turned off to him when I heard a story about how he cursed out Doug Lasit for cutting his 2+ hour message short at GU. He was so prideful that he assumed we all wanted to hear him gargle on for that long about nothing important. We were teenagers for goodness sake. I bet if you ask all of the thousands of teenagers who heard him speak at those things, less then 10% would even remember what he talked about. Anyway, after that I never listened to the guy again or even paid attention to what he was doing. A church in Las Vegas huh? Interesting…guess he fits in well, after all they do call it sin city.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:18 am
I wish I couldn’t plead innocence due to age, I wish I had been smarter than that…but he made me laugh and that was probably enough for me.