You and I have committed the sin of Eli.  We have sadly shaken our heads, said, "tut tut," and continued attending or supporting ministries we knew in our hearts were preaching nonsense or practicing misconduct.

 

     The rampant sin that is taking place at the highest levels of Charismatic leadership are enabled, made possible, by you and I.  Our offerings and our attendance is keeping it going.

 

     What happened in the days of Samuel is identical to the state of affairs in Charismatic and Word of Faith circles today.  Wrong motives, deliberate ignorance of God's ways, mishandling offerings, strife, immorality, and refusing to judge what is happening in our midst is all made possible, enabled, by you and I.

 

     Now I want to give an exhortation to ministers and to congregation members.

     If you are a pastor, my heart goes out to you.  I have served as a pastor, and I know the challenges involved in pastoring.  If you appear to be out of sync with national Charismatic or WOF leaders, people begin to think you are behind the times.  If you don't go along with the latest gimmick of the month, you may be labeled as not being "on the cutting edge" of what God is doing today. 

 

     Like you, many times I've given an uncomfortable nod to the latest teaching to emerge from national WOF leaders, and waited for the error to run its course and die out.  But my friend, with the pervasiveness of TV, CD's, and the internet, the teaching errors never get the chance anymore to run their course and die out as they did in years past.  Instead, they are simply repackaged and reappear under a new name.  Same error, different label.

 

     I resent the unfair criticism that heresy hunters have leveled against various healing evangelists and prophets.  Most of their criticisms involve taking statements out of their obvious context and mercilessly beating the man of God with them.  The majority of such criticisms I've read over the years are dishonest, dripping with jealousy and hatred, cruel, and unworthy of a Christian.  Because of the unfairness of such criticism, we have gone to the extreme of committing Eli's sin by turning a blind eye to the times in which legitimate healing evangelists and prophets have indeed taught or prophesied error.  We can not keep doing that.

 

     The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth.  He is Truth.  He blesses truth, and nothing else.  There is a Spirit of Error.  He is the opposite of the Holy Spirit.  We have to choose which spirit we will follow.  The Glory accompanies the Spirit of Truth.  The Glory leaves when the Spirit of Error is given free reign.

 

     Pastors, if you and I were to sit down and have a private chat, you would admit to me that much of the teachings that have arisen in WOF, Charismatic, and Prophetic circles in the last few years, particularly the financial teachings, are stark raving nonsense.  You and I already know it.  The only question is, will we have the courage to "go public" to our congregations and acknowledge the errors, correct ourselves, and refocus our attention on preaching sound doctrine.  It is a fearful prospect.

 

     When you tell the truth, you risk losing people.

 

      But also, when you tell the truth, you gain the favor of God.  The Spirit of Truth becomes your Companion.  And where He goes, the Glory follows. 

 

     Though you may and probably will lose people, you will eventually gain others.

 

     In the months that I have written on this site, only one thing has surprised me.  I've been surprised at how many church members already see the errors, and long for a pastor to be honest enough with them to tell them the truth.  People are more aware than we give them credit for.

 

     If your pastor begins to confront from the pulpit the errors that have run amok in our midst, will you get behind him?

 

     You need to direct your loyalty first and foremost to your local church and to your shepherd.  Beyond that, pick out a traveling minister or two, or a TV ministry, and support them if they are preaching sound doctrine and a balanced message. 

     Listen to the recordings on this website.  Look to the examples of these Giants of the Faith.  It is God's will for us to prosper, and money has its place.  The Goodwins prospered, but they were by no means millionaires.  Mom Goodwin didn't have diamonds dripping off of every finger.  But she was adorned with the Gifts and Glory that comes only with walking closely with God.

 

     Demos Shekarian of the Full Gospel Businessmens Fellowship approached Mom and Dad Goodwin, offering to put them on TV.  Their ministries could have been seen by millions alongside Oral Roberts, A.A. Allen, and others.  Mom and Dad prayed about it, and politely turned Brother Demos down.  Why?  Because they had no direction from God to go on TV.  And they did only what the Lord directed them to do.  Without a second thought, they walked away from great fame and fortune.  The result?  The Glory never departed from them until the day they died. 

 

     Howard Carter suffered in prison as a conscentious objector during World War I, but he came out of there with a revelation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that has swept the world.  God opened doors for him to minister alongside Smith Wigglesworth and to win souls to Christ around the world for 50 years.  On one of the recordings on this site we hear Carter tell that he never required a financial guarantee to come and minister anywhere.  If invited, he came.  (Some WOF leaders today require $25,000 to be deposited in their bank account in advance or they won't come).  Carter did not have a condo in the Trump Tower.  (One WOF leader does).  He lived in a middle class home in Springfield, Missouri.  But he walked in a Glory that few others--including that WOF leader--have approached.  And the Glory never departed from him until the day he died.

 

     F. F. Bosworth helped found the Assemblies of God.  He was in the inner circle of a denomination in the midst of explosive growth.  But he resigned and turned in his ordination papers because he had seen so much carnality among Spirit-filled Christians that he no longer believed that speaking in tongues was the only evidence of receiving the baptism in the Spirit.  He went to Hearne, Texas and was savagely beaten with 2 x 4's by a racist mob for daring to preach to whites and blacks together.  He quickly forgave, slowly healed, then preached with a tremendous healing anointing throughout the 1920's and 1930's.  When the Healing Revival broke out in the late 1940's Bosworth came out of retirement and mentored a young Oral Roberts and T.L. Osborn.  He died in 1958, shouting, "Hallelujah!  This is the greatest day of my life!  I get to go see my Savior today!"  The Glory never left him.

 

     The list goes on.

 

     WFP Burton, who along with Smith Wigglesworth's son in law, waded through waist-deep swamps to get to an isolated area in Africa.  There while fighting fevers, he raised up a mission in the Congo.  He taught himself their language, toiled for years in the heat and in primitive conditions, buried co-laborers who died young from disease, preaching the Gospel with no promises of financial support from any organization. 

 

     Years later after retiring from missionary work, Burton, now aged, attended a large evangelistic meeting back in England.  The evangelist on the platform recognized WFP Burton sitting out in the audience.  He gave Burton a flowery introduction, speaking of Burton's fame and greatness.  He praised Burton's accomplishments comparing him to Livingstone, and then asked him to come to the platform and lead the congregation in prayer.

 

     His biographer writes, "The large, dignified gentleman slowly rose to his feet.  Dead silence.  Then in that slightly piping voice of his, he said very deliberately, 'My dear friends, I am not famous or great, neither am I a modern Livingstone, I am plain Willie Burton, just a tramp preacher willing to tramp the Congo forests for Jesus.  Now shall we pray. . . ' Then he led that hushed audience to the very presence of God, directing their thoughts and hearts to Jesus, the One who shed His blood to save them from their sin.  'Only a great man could have done that,' the evangelist said quietly and feelingly at the end of [Burton's] prayer."*  The Glory never left WFP Burton until the day he died.

 

     Kathryn Kuhlman, endured criticisms, insults, and rejection to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to introduce multitudes to her Friend, the Holy Spirit.  Upon receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Oral Roberts University, she acknowledged the high price she had paid over the years to stay true to the call of God saying to the assembled crowd through her tears, "None of you know how much this cost me."  The cost was great.  The Glory was greater.  And the Glory never departed from Sister Kuhlman until the day she died.

 

     With the Goodwins, Howard Carter, F. F. Bosworth, WFP Burton, Kathryn Kuhlman, and so many men and women of old, the Glory never departed from them.  Instead, they kept walking in the Glory on earth, until the day came when the Glory took them away from us to Heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The Good News is that although the Glory--the Ark of the Covenant--left Israel, it eventually returned.  The Philistines kept the Ark for seven months, then returned it with a trespass offering to the men of Beth-shemesh.  Then from there it went to Kirjath-jearim.  But just having the Ark physically present was not enough to bring victory.  The Philistines continued to oppress Israel for another 20 years.

 

     Then Israel took the first step towards seeing the full Glory return:

 

     ". . . and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."  I Sam. 7:2.

 

     To "lament" means to grieve and weep over something that has been lost.  They had lost the physical Ark, and they wept over it.  Then it returned, but they still had no lasting victory.  It is time for us to grieve over all that we have lost.  We have lost the spiritual manifestation of the Glory. 

 

     But lamenting was not enough.  Samuel took Israel to the second step:

 

     "And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If  you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Astaroth from among you . . ."

 

     Israel had to prove the sincerity of their repentence by putting away their idols.  So must we. 

 

     My brethren, we have to put away our other gods.  We have made to ourselves a god out of money, out of fame,  out of ego, and out of the flesh.  We have worshipped these gods long enough.  Our God is a jealous god, and He has commanded, "Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me."  We must forsake these gods utterly, and worship God only.

 

     But even that is not enough.  Samuel took Israel to the third step:

 

     ". . . and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only:  and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."  Verse 3.

 

     We can't fool God.  Our change can not be a superficial one.  We have to prepare our hearts unto the Lord.  The wrong motives have got to go.  The "if it doesn't benefit me, I'm simply not interested," has to go.  We must walk in love, putting others ahead of ourselves.

 

     But still there is more.  Samuel took them to a fourth step:

 

     "And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh. . . "

 

     We need to gather together in prayer groups and in our local congregations in one accord, seeking the Lord.  There is something about the corporate anointing, the anointing that we all contribute to a local body.  We need to corporately seek God.

 

     Samuel took them to a fifth step by adding:

 

     ". . . I will pray for you unto the Lord."

 

     Leaders need to pray, and lead their people in prayer.

 

     "And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord."

 

     Gathering, fasting, confessing our sin and repenting of it.  

 

     A sixth step:

 

     "And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh."

 

     Finally you see a man of God setting things in scriptural order, and the people supporting the man of God as he does it.

 

     The seventh and final step:

 

     "And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord:  and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel. . . "

 

     Our preaching has to return to exalting the Lamb of God.  Yes, we have authority.  Yes, we are kings and priests unto God.  But we have authority and are kings and priests only because the Lamb of God suffered in our place, died and rose again for us.  We have to preach a blood-soaked cross, and cleave to it as our only hope of forgiveness and salvation.   The old Pentecostals believed, and we need to remember, that the only reason for the 9 supernatural gifts to exist, is to adorn the Cross of Calvary.  For all 9 gifts will confirm the Gospel and point to Christ.  

 

 

     ". . . and the Lord heard him . . . the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel." 

 

     Seven sins grieved away the Glory from our midst:  wrong motives, ignorance, mishandling offerings, strife, immorality, refusing to judge, and enablement of sin.

 

     Seven steps must be taken back to God for the Glory to return:  lamenting, putting away other gods, preparing our hearts, gathering together, prayer and fasting, judging, and casting our gaze upon the spotless Lamb of God.

 

     Go and do thou likewise.