Okay, here’s a quick and ugly run-down of this video:
Story 1: Apparently, an evangelist in Sri Lanka is beheaded, and a Muslim comes by and sits his head by his body. His head reattaches to his body and he comes back to life. To repay him for his kindness, he led him to Christ, then proceeded to lead him into town where the guys who killed him saw him, they too were saved, and a massive revival broke out.
Story 2: A guy is murdered, and his body is dismembered… cut into five pieces… and sent a limb to five different villages and put them on display as a warning to Christians not to come in there. After a few weeks, they buried they guy. The church begins praying, and his limbs reattach and he comes back to life. I have one question… who dug him up, and how did they know he was alive? Did they hear him screaming from the grave?
The deeper you get in the charismatic doctrine, the bigger and bigger your stories have to become to be important. Notice the cheering in the video… if only they would cheer like that because Jesus is alive and on the right hand of the Father.
(HT: Bud Press)
Oh my. I remember being in a Charismatic prayer group years ago, where people got all excited because supposedly a leg was healed. I was watching that leg intently, and it never moved, straightened out, got longer…but the others were claiming that they could see that happening. Hope colored glasses.
It is troubling to hear the cheering in the background on the audio. Even back in my Pentecostal days I doubt I would have cheered such stories.
By: Doug on June 4, 2009
at 1:45 am
Note what Bill Johnson said at the very beginning of the video: “…he’s got some craziest stories I’ve ever heard of.”
Again, no names; no proof; no validation. And, most importantly, no Biblical back-up or justification.
Bill Johnson was right. The stories ARE crazy.
And their stories will get crazier before Jesus returns.
Bud Press
By: Bud Press on June 4, 2009
at 6:56 am
I don’t know what I would do without this blogspace. The information I get on here helps me no end with my research into end times, nwo and other matters. Thank you Crystal.
I know I may come across as a bit of a crank because of my views and I don’t mean to upset anyone. I do beleive in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the true church. I just interpret them differently and that is down to over 18 months of research.
Anyways, yes, the Charismatic movement. As Bud Press rightly says, it is going to bet weirder and weirder. If these stories were true it would be on every new channel in the world, despite claims that there is a conspiracy of silence by the media to such things.
In my days in the church I heard the claims too and I had my doubts then.
Where this movement is going…it appears oblivion seems to be the only destination but unfortunately a lot of people will leave hurt, dissapointed, dissilusioned and broken and some as we have already seen, will die.
Keep up the good work Crystal, don’t let them tell you that you are doing the devil’s work and that you are resisting God. Evil in all its forms needs to be exposed, especially in the church of all places.
Love. peace and respect to you all
By: darklight on June 5, 2009
at 4:15 am
I would have believed this ‘once upon a time’ but THANK GOD I know better now.
It isn’t that I doubt HIM, but I dont trust one word that comes from the mouths of these false ‘ministers’.
Bud Press you are right they ARE crazy and getting crazier.
By: Sylvia on June 5, 2009
at 11:46 am
I’m not sure what to say. I feel torn by the division in the body of Christ that is evident even on this page. It seems as though a speaker is put on display and then ripped apart using the same, unbiblical, unsupported thought process that they are being accused of.
Are we not called to be of one mind and one accord?
I have to tell you that I find stories like these hard to believe. I find the cheer of the crowd in the audience unnerving. I find myself wondering why it is that I’m listening to a speaker tell the story of the man, instead of the man who was raised from the dead. I have all of the same questions and concerns that you do.
But if we believe in the validity of the scripture then we have to at the very least acknowledge that these things, historically, have happened. We know that Jesus performed many of these miracles and then charged His disciples to do “greater works than these”. So why are these stories so impossible?
Many Christians believe in the dispensation of the gifts; meaning that stuff used to happen but that it doesn’t anymore. We know from the scripture that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, which by my understanding means that the power and anointing of God to come on people and enable them to, say, raise the dead is still possible… and dare I say, probable.
The Father has given me three final things to say. First, pray for these people. It’s important to expose the lies of the enemy, which this forum has purposed to do. We need to continually be seeking out the truth and presenting the truth of the gospel… especially in high profile christian leaders. But when we expose the truth, we must do it with love. Pray for them, love on them, win their minds back for the Father.
Second; and I believe this is straight from the Father. Do not discount things that you don’t understand. I don’t understand these stories, or how and why God decides to move when He does. But its dangerous to assume that something is a lie, wrong or of the enemy just because we don’t understand it. Isn’t that exactly what the pharisees did? They didn’t understand why God would come to the earth as a lowly Nazarene and missed the Messiah as a result.
Third. If the man who has been allegedly raised from the dead were sitting before you, with a scar around the circumference of his neck, you would not believe it then either. We have hardened our hearts just as pharaoh did in Exodus 7. We do not have the revelation of the power, and love of God and so it wouldn’t matter who told the story, even the dead man walking, we wouldn’t believe it. We need tender hearts; I need a tender heart.
So I will pray for you; Doug, Bud press, Darklight, Sylvia and Chystal; that the Father will reveal to us the knowledge of the revelation of His power.
I hope to continue this conversation tomorrow
In love.
Bryce
By: bryce on June 9, 2009
at 3:35 pm
bottom line is leaders have to give hiher account for themselves, doesnt mean their without fault, scripture says this, also says that if you say Christ did something he didnt do you are foung to be false witness of God
By: kirk on June 10, 2009
at 8:42 am
Bryce,
Bryce, you might want to pray for Bill Johnson, since he, myself did not see the supposed resurrection but rather reported on someone telling him this happen. That is called gossip.
Oh, it’s a fun story and it does get people on your side before you fill their heads with false doctrine.
He has used that method just about every time he has spoken at conferences.
People like to hear good ending stories. It makes them feel good and that is what this movement is all about. Feeling good.
It’s not about the suffering of Christ, it is about power and chicken feathers and fake dust and fake gems and fake manna and fake healings and fake prophets and fake healers and fake conversions. In other words it is fake and if you want to spend time praying for a bunch of fakers who do this for fame and financial gain have at it.
They talk about all these healings but if they get a twing it’s off to the doctor, not Jesus.
Bill has or is going to have a second operation for a hernia, where this man’s faith?
Why doesn’t he claim the word like he teaches and refuse to go to a doctor.
Faker!
The are all phoneys with made up stories sucking the all the money they can get out of hurting people with real problems.
Someone should introduce each one of them to a cat-of- nine tails.
Fakers, the whole lot of them.
By: rick62 on June 12, 2009
at 5:43 pm
Bill Johnson was a strong supporter of last year’s Lakeland “revival”, which at the least means he has no discernment and at the worst means that he’s a liar and deceiver.
By: Discerner on June 15, 2009
at 7:43 am
tall tales but where’s the proof
By: goodness sakes on June 18, 2009
at 2:40 pm
I believe that many things are happening in the natural realm and are a sign to the people of God to point them to a spiritual truth. For example, many years ago, who ever heard of identity theft? Now it is a big deal. I believe that God wanted His people to understand that satan was trying to steal their identity in Christ. You know, we (the believers) are not poor old sinners anymore. We are the righteousness of God, in Christ. God wants us to know that. Paul hammered away at that nearly unbelieveable truth. As long as a believer does not know or acknowledge who they are In Christ, they will walk around with a “poor helpless worthless sinner” attitude. (Please understand that I do understand that “in my flesh dwells no good thing”, so I do understand the balance here).
Here is my comment about this “crazy” story. Jesus said that we would know the true followers of Christ by their “fruit”. The OT refers to the words that come out of your mouth as fruit. There is something going on in the natural realm right now that I want to use as the example of what is going on in the spiritual realm. My sister told me that she bought some fruit and brought it home and put it in a bowl on the kitchen counter. She said there were some fruit flies in her kitchen from the previous fruit she had. She noticed that the fruit flies did not go near the new fruit she had just purchased. Even after several days, those fruit flies did not go near that fruit. She told me that she believed that this fruit was “genetically engineered” or Man Altered fruit, and that even though we eat that stuff and think it is the real thing, these fruit flies KNOW it is not real fruit.
I think this is a sign from God, for whomever will pay attention to it. “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven.”
By: GrowingInGrace on June 20, 2009
at 1:35 pm
Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, and the truth of God’s Word, by which we are sanctified. (John 17:17)
By: Chrystal on June 20, 2009
at 1:38 pm
Add on to my previous comment:
I believe this is “man made fruit” and the purpose for it is to lay the groundwork for the Great Delusion that is about to come, and which will lead astray all those who do not love the truth.
I understand the comment made by Bryce, because deep in the heart of every believer is a desire to see the miraculous power of God manifested, and it grieves one with that desire to see the people of God being manipulated with these “stories”. Also, if you are not careful to protect your heart (as noted by Bryce) you will become “hardened” and will not believe the real thing. Jesus taught on a hardened heart, and it is a heart that has become insensitive to the spiritual truth because one give more credibility to the natural circumstances. (read the story that ends with Mark 6:52 “For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.”
By: GrowingInGrace on June 20, 2009
at 1:53 pm