Matthew 10:7-8 As you go, preach, saying “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
This is the stuff I came out of – (false) HEALING –
Randy Clark was one of the speakers (along with Bill Johnson) at the one and only IAHR (International Assoc of Healing Rooms -Cal Pierce/John G. Lake) conference I attended a few years ago in Spokane. He also was very influential in the spiritual life of the Healing Rooms Director I worked with. I have a video of Randy and Todd at Lakeland on my blog doing that impartation thing –electrocution style. Impartation is a very big thing in charismania. I’m sure it’s were I picked up the demons. Bad stuff.
Watch it here to see if you really want to be a part of the teaching and impartation offered by Randy and his cohorts- and hear them discuss the connection between Todd Bentley, Randy Clark and the Toronto Blessing – Lakeland Electrocution Impartation
A man cannot impart spiritual gifts, power, anointing, knowledge or wisdom into another. Those things are given through God alone. The Holy Spirit IS God, so how can a man who teaches improper things and false doctrine impart Him to you? It cannot be done. Let me warn you. Watching and listening to false teaching in agreement is enough to invite demons into your life. If you open your mind to the thought that “maybe they are right, maybe they know more than I” you have opened a door for deception. The devil will be very happy to lead you further astray.This is what happened to me.
Link to Randy Clark’s ministry – Global Awakening (There’s that word again – AWAKENING) Does this sound like it has anything to do with Christ or the gospel?
Again, in these teachings and ministries they completely deny the work of the Holy Spirit in believing THEY are the carriers of His presence. THEY have the answer to why people don’t heal when they are prayed for. Forget the sovereignty of God. Word of Faith has the answer everyone is looking for. They spin off of Ken Hagin’s stuff. It’s witchcraft repackaged!
It is God who heals. We pray, He moves. Not everyone gets healed and we do not know why. It is not our place to know. It is not even our place to ask or to question God. I don’t care how many times they spit out the word intimacy, there are some things we are not to know. Isaiah 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Those who do not walk in the Spirit led lifestyle will go after other knowledge and claim to know things the rest of us do not. Whatever they are selling, even if they offer it for free – you do not want it.
Acts 8:18-24 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 18 and when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” 24 Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
Simon was a new believer as noted in verse 13, having had been a sorcerer. Being so new to the faith it is easy to be mistaken. Peter pointed his sin out to him in without haste and Simon repented. These gnostic laden teachers are not new believers and are therefore without excuse.
After all, where we we when God hung the stars into place and set the planets into orbit? Can we tell God how that is done? No. We cannot. (Those who think otherwise should read the last few chapters of Job.) Where we we when God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground creating intricate parts of the body that miraculously work together? We cannot tell Him how creation of man is done. We cannot tell Him how to heal a person. And we cannot tell another how to heal a person. Healing comes only from the power of God Himself through His choice to heal or to not heal. It will never come through a man made method or decree or proclamation, nor by study course or impartation!
It certainly does not come from healing energy, (see their message below) which sounds very much like Reiki, a Japanese technique for reducing stress and promoting healing through the laying on of hands. The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words – Rei which means “God’s Wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki which is “life force energy”. So Reiki is actually “spiritually guided life force energy.“Read more here – What is Reiki
Be careful, be wise and ask the Lord to give us all greater discernment in these times.
________________________________
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Revival Phenomena and Healing
The Agony of Defeat, The Thrill of Victory, Four Kinds of Faith for Healing, Biblical Basis for Healing and Pressing In -
Deliverance and Disbelief
Healing and the Kingdom, Deliverance: A Ten-Step Ministry Model, Throne Life, Healing out of Intimacy with God and Warfield: His counterfeit miracles and today’s echos. -
Spiritual and Medical Perspectives
History of Healing within Christianity and Healing Energy
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Todd Bentley was probably accepted by many Christians because he operated Toronto “Blessing” type spiritual phenomena (eg. shaking, quaking, and “slain”) that achieved widespread acceptance in various churches many years prior.
These phenomena are sensational and often pleasurable, many people are attracted to them, so many Christians may assume that is good to get more people coming in the church door, as it might be “revival” (lots of people getting excited about God).
However it is actually a diabolical intrusion to ruin churches.
It is an interesting co-incidence that TB is the initials for Todd Bentley and Toronto “Blessing”.
This article gives an overview of the origins of Toronto “Blessing” via Rodney Howard-Browne in 1994.
He challenged God: “touch me, or I will come up there and touch you”.
That is so improper and lacking in “Fear of the Lord”.
The Devil will be a best chum to anyone who speaks to God like that.
Improperly approaching God will attract familiar spirits to lead the foolish away on a magic carpet ride to somewhere.
This could explain the response Howard-Browne got: “a sensation as if his body was on fire and he broke out in uncontrollable laughter”.
The laughing could be a method to mask demonic infiltration, as laughter seems harmless, even beneficial.
The spiritual infestation subsequently spread world wide, and was infused into Nicky Gumbel’s “Alpha Course”.
I thank the Lord for your site, Mkayla your right these people are Gnostic’s
Here is a paragraph about these wolves, (Gnostic’s) I don’t remember the author, but this helped me realize the elitism in so much of the church today. It put words and structure to what I was feeling in the Spirit, a witness of what the Lord was saying. Perhaps this will help someone else.
“First John was written to counter a specific distortion of Christianity called Gnosticism, Gnosticism is a Greek term which relates to a special kind of elite knowledge. A Gnostic is a “knowing one” (Gnosis means to know, an agnostic is one who claims not to know.)
What was it that these Gnostics knew? Their knowledge was supposedly the knowledge of God! They had set themselves up as the ones who “know God in a way far superior to the ‘average Christian’’’. The Gnostics were impatient with the standard Christian teaching regarding the knowledge of God. It was just too simple and pedestrian. Good enough for uneducated peasants, slaves, and the disenfranchised people who made up the bulk of the Christian converts in the first century but orthodox Christianity was far too plain for converted philosophers and intellectuals!”
Hope this will bear witness to someone.
James
the site says “Receive a fresh impartation that will release a new dimension of revelation, along with a deep sense of confidence and resolve to pursue the deeper things of God!”
You can get revelation, confidence and resolve, all for only $59!
Ugh. The Simon anointing impartation.
What happened to
I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me Philippians 4:13
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God 2 Corinthians 3:5
Hi Seeker3.
You are right in these points. And I do agree that most people truly think they are following God. They just need to open their bibles and search for the truth. It is so sad that most people are afraid to even consider they may be off.
The first time I read about Kundalini (over a year ago) I couldn’t believe it could be possible. I still don’t know how exactly I fell into that, but I did. The day I heard Todd Bentley’s comment that he could feel the anointing in his back, my head spun around, because I remembered oddly feeling that same thing just recently and didn’t know why. Thankfully the power of God is mightier than the power of Kundalini and once I repented and came against these spirits – impartations, etc. I was free.
Thanks for the links and the information you provided. They are well worth the time for all to read!
Blessings.
Wow James!
That is very interesting. I will have to take a much closer look at that. I can certainly relate to Gnostics and the group who believe they have superior knowledge over the rest. That’s the lie behind all of the deception these days.
Thanks for your contribution and your encouragement.
Blessings.
>> You can get revelation, confidence and resolve, all for only $59!
…. $59 for false counsel to send you towards the lake of fire.
Bad investment.
If God has given instruction and counsel in a book (Bible), then it is no good ignoring the book and insisting God must give those instructions another way such as dreams/visions, angels, etc.
In that disobedience familiar spirits can turn up to deceive, or worse, God may hand you over to delusions (2Thess 2:11) for not loving the truth (reading and following Bible instruction).
Jesus said “a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign” (Matt 12:39).
Does “asking for a miraculous sign” command a performance from God just like the pursuit of supernatural experiences such as being “slain in the spirit”, “Toronto Blessing”, heavenly visitations and visions, etc.?
The Bible does not endorse people directing the Holy Spirit or teach methods to repeatedly make supernatural experiences or events occur in a style of presumption ahead of God’s sovereignty.
The desire to have experiences could be a self indulgent avoidance of what God really wants us to do.
When this disobedience and lack of discernment are combined, people may easily accept counterfeit phenomena from the Devil:
Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect–if that were possible.
Could Christian fellowships become dens of the occult with things like body vibrations, howlings, apparitions, and visions given by demons?
Yes, some already are.
The seeking of experiences could be an attempt to treat the Holy Spirit like a circus clown or temple prostitute for personal indulgence.
All these wrong things may be tolerated because there is no Fear of the Lord and poor discernment:
Prov 1:29-31 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
Christians should discern and reject fraudulent church teachers and ministers:
2 Cor 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
If God has given instruction and counsel in the Bible, then read the Bible.
Be careful about seeking spirits (Holy Spirit or angels) for advice.
If a spirit does give you advice, then make sure it is compatible with Bible instruction and counsel.
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
The Holy Spirit will never counsel in contradiction to the Bible.
Amen seeker3 good exhortation.
Hey M_K great post…,…I have been offline a few days
I noticed that.
Re:
“Matthew 10:7-8 As you go, preach, saying “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
This is the stuff I came out of – HEALING – ”
I hope you haven’t ‘come out of’ praying for the sick to be healed, sister.
Seeker3
Right on the mark with that post.
Hehehe. NO. I meant I came out of false healing movement (for lack of a better expression!) I still pray for the sick!! Sorry. I should have been more clear.
Sadly, any averagely intelligent 10 year old unbelieving child could easily have the correct discernment about improper spiritual drunkenness ministries (Toronto “Blessing”, Todd Bentley & Lakeland, etc.), with the most basic logic:
“Dad, those church people looked like they were nuts.
They were vibrating, twitching, having slurred speech, nonsense speech and strange sounds.
Some were acting like dogs, chickens, and lions.
There were people staggering about like drunk, and lots fell over.
They were thrashing about, they looked like they were about to die.
And there was strange laughing going on.
It didn’t look funny, it looked scary.
Mr. Bentley kicked an old lady in the head.
I saw him holding someone else’s hand, not Mrs Bentley.
Are they on drugs or drunk?”
“Son, stay away from them, they must be into something devilish”.
That is the correct discernment about Todd Bentley, and similar madhouse church practitioners.
When people manifesting like Todd Bentley and John Crowder are accepted in churches, it is proof there is no discernment at all.
Some church people have been chasing novelty.
They want “dinner and a show” from “the spiritual powers”.
The Devil is obliging by turning some churches into Hellish niteclubs with demonic acts.
The Bible does not encourage Christians to seek “dinner and a show”.
That is just a disguised seeking of hedonistic self indulgence, similar to the worldly wallowing in sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Wining and dining on entertainments from the Devil.
The Bible does not assert the Holy Spirit being at our disposal to give “bliss sessions” and other flesh indulgences similar to drunken euphoria and sex lust.
Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
God wants us to have a right heart and sober mind that pursues truth, not a wallowing in experiences and abandonment of self control.
Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
1 Peter 1:13-17 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.
Thank you for this post. I find it interesting that there is so much emphasis on what, how, and where, and they don’t really mention WHO. I’ve recently reread C.S. Lewis’s great work The Screwtape Letters and it was amazingly on-spot. As long as they keep focus on the method, the devil can sit back, relax, and watch the saints move further from God and closer to idolatry.
Thanks for sharing your experience. There is so much deception going on that those who aren’t in the Word on a daily basis are very much in danger of falling into it for a lack of love of the truth. Whenever people mention Healing Rooms I get very leary. Sometimes I think I’m being too critical, but this movement is so pervasive and people are so hungry to see the “power of God”. I have a couple of friends who have gone to one and claim people have experienced all kinds of deliverance. I’m just not sure about that.
Rachel
Hi Susu. Very good point.
Rachel, from past experience is it a false deliverance. The effects from this kind of prayer, aside from the fact that it is not biblical prayer, is that it brings a sense of well being, much like an effect from some drugs or alcohol. In time it will wear off, or the condition that led them to seek out the healing room will worsen. Or they may go through the rest of their lives under the delusion of the deliverance. It is hard to say what the future will bring. I had many experiences too, some very convincing, and powerful, life changing. But I had to come to the conclusion that they were not brought on through the presence of God, but another. You have a reason to doubt these claims. People are desperate to see God “do”, but sadly it is out of their own expectations of what they think He should do, out of their own self devised wills. It is a far step from the sovereign will of God.
Hi Peter.
Welcome to my blog.
Thank you for all your encouragement and kind words. I am so glad to see the information is helpful to you. I will be contacting your friend as you asked. I removed her name and e-mail for privacy reasons. Keep praying for her!
Hi M’kayla. Thanks for the thought provoking information. I just read an email from a friend who said they went to one of Randy Clark’s event, and from their perspective it was a positive experience. However, I personally not totally bought into all that. Yet at the same time, I am reading your words and find that you quote 2 passages of scripture. I am after truth – not what you or anyone else says, and I suspect that you also are after truth. So, I can’t help but bring out these points: in the first passage you quoted, Jesus is commanding His followers to go and heal, cleanse, raise and cast out. Jesus didn’t do it alone, He commanded (and empowered) His people to do it. Then, in the second passage, the People of God were laying their hands on other new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. This too is a clear example of God imparting the Spirit into the lives of some through the life of others – again, God didn’t do it alone, He was doing it “through” believers. So, that’s where I’m challenged right now – I’m reading what you wrote and you’re saying “A man cannot impart spiritual gifts, power, anointing, knowledge or wisdom into another. Those things are given through God alone.” Yet, the first passage you use shows Jesus commanding man to go heal, cleanse, raise, cast out; the second passage shows man laying hands on others and through man the Holy Spirit is imparted to them (they received the Spirit through the men laying hands on them). Both of these passages at the very least contradict what you are saying. In addiction, I recently came across some verses in Paul’s letters to Timothy which also suggest it is through man that Timothy received gifts: 2 Timothy 1:6 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.” Also, 1 Timothy 4:14 “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.”
All these verses seem to be very clear to me as I read them, though I may be less educated and less knowledgeable than yourself. Please help me to understand them in light of what you are saying here, lest your teaching be false as you are claiming of others. Again, I am not on this side or that side and I am open to know the Truth – that is what I am after.
This is a very good point you raised. And yes, I too am after the truth. In the NT we read these verses, the laying on of hands, healing, etc. in knowledge that these men who were imparted with the truth, and who laid hands on others to receive were men of God. There were no false doctrines being taught between them. Randy Clark, and others who are like minded manipulate scriptures to say or mean something other than is written. This is why there is such an emphasis on healing or imparting – and they are passing on another spirit that is not the Holy Spirit. The reason why we can be assured their spirit is not of God is because they are proven false teachers. The Holy Spirit will not reside with one who teaches the word falsely.
We do not NEED another person to pass or impart anything to us. We are believers and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So what I mean by this is that we don’t need to go running to a conference or meeting to receive anything from the Lord that He would freely give us. These men and women act as tho, and really do believe they have something the rest of us lack. And this is why very often they make it an urgency of the moment to run and get this thing they have to give. This is very dangerous! And like the word says, not to lay hands on to hastily, or to share in another’s sins, there is a reason for that. Elders laid hands on the sick to heal them, but again, they were elders, proven men of God. I am not against the laying on of hands, but I do believe the word is specific on how it is to be done and by who and when. Randy Clark and others who claim the power or authority to impart are not in that group. The apostles/disciples knew each other – they were intimate in their lives and saw how the other lived behind the scenes. Can we say that about Randy Clark or the others? No. We simply hear then say things about God that sound good, they use His name and we fall all over each other lining up to receive whatever it is that they have. This is a very bad practice the church has accepted.
The answer is in the word of God and their teachings to do not line up with scriptures. And if you allow them to lay hands on you and “impart”, even if the impartation is done corporate, and no one actually touches you, what you will receive is a spirit other than what you had hoped for – a demon. It is a powerful and felt presence that I believe is the same as kundalini, reiki and chi, one found in other religions and therapeutic practices.
I know this because I was one of them until the Lord showed me the truth. And I was at a conf where Randy Clark was one of the speakers so I am familiar with his methods which are like all the rest going back to the Kansas City Prophets in the 90′s, and for some, before that.
1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
2 Corinthians 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!
1 Timothy 5:22 Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.
I hope that helps you understand a little more clearly, if not please let me know. There is quite a bit of info and conversation on my blog that will help to give you more insight into these things. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Honestly, I think it is unwise to cast judgment on someone.
I believe GOD can heal through the name of Jesus the Messiah.
Read the Bible, it is very clear that we can do the same (and greater works) as Jesus.
“Grace, Grace to it!”
israel, these people do not heal in the name of Jesus. They are false teachers, false leaders, false prophets. We are told in the bible to judge these things and since they do not teach the word for it’s truth, they do not have the power of God to heal. God does not operate through them. Christ did not come to bring physical healing, but spiritual, being the ultimate sacrifice for our sin. Greater things did not refer to healings, but to those who would come to Christ because of the testimony and work of the spreading of the gospel done by those men! We see this in the book of Acts!
It is unwise to follow a man simply because he claims to have the power and gifts of God, yet does not teach the word of God for what it says. This is the foundation of the Kansas City Prophets/Toronto/Lakeland/Bethel and in other groups and gatherings throughout the world. They are popular and gain much attention but are not of God. Be careful in who you trust and follow.
Hi Mkayla,
I am very heartened to find your blog. I have been greatly alarmed since discovering this charlatan false “prophet” Randy Clark. I was in a conference which featured him last year and he totally manipulated the crowd. Just for those like Israel, please listen to Mkayla, she’s telling the truth. There were people in wheelchairs in the conference, but the prophet ignored them and instead got the people with any kind of metal implants like pins and such to stand up and talked them into raising their hands to signal they had been healed. He then counted them up and called it “more than a hundred healed that night”.
I then recalled how he started the meeting pumping the crowd with how many had been healed in his previous meeting. I’m sure he went to the next after us and told them how there had been more than a hundred healed in our service. And though there were those there who obviously needed the real thing, they never got it from him!
I sincerely that in the last days, God will do great signs and miracles again through his people. But those that have no discernment and follow these false teachers who glorify themselves more than anyone else will miss the true miracles which God will bestow on His humble and holy people who have separated themselves from the corruption of the prosperous American culture
It is much like Mormonism. They talk to you and then tell you to pray after they leave and if you get a “warm feeling” that is God signifying to you that Mormonism is true. They get thousands of converts like that every year.
Randy Clark plays on several things, one of which is the desire for the honor of men. People want the honor of being looked at as having the Lord’s special favor, and healing in their touch. So Randy says “When you feel something, or start crying or shaking, that’s my anointing coming into you (that means you are becoming special like him). So those that desire it a little too much start feeling it. And of course, when they start shaking that means “look at me, I got it like Randy”.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to help others see the truth behind Randy Clark. He is quite instrumental in the false healing/false prophetic circles and spends a good amount of time or used to performing the annual IAHR conference in Spokane with Bill Johnson. The sad part is that he seems so sincere in what he does and maybe he believes it to be the truth. Many are deceived.
Ha. I didn’t know that about the Mormons. We got that warm feeling in the healing rooms quite often.
Take care.
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>> James Jones January 1, 2010 at 6:04 am: “…these people are Gnostic’s. Here is a paragraph about these wolves, (Gnostic’s) I don’t remember the author, but this helped me realize the elitism…
That paragraph James quoted comes from pages 9 & 10 of “Mending the Nets” by Bill Randles and can be viewed here http://www.theothersideoftheriver.com/Books/MendingNets.pdf
Christians are often intimidated with elitism of supposed “superior” knowledge and supposed “superior” experiences that go beyond what scripture teaches for Christian living.
They should take comfort from God through his Bible counsel to stay within “the simplicity that is in Christ”:
People are putting up with it!
They should be rejecting it, because going beyond “the simplicity that is in Christ” is associated with deception from Satan, similar to what happened with Eve.
There is a way that seems right – Prov 16:25