We are receiving many questions about the present outpouring of the Holy Spirit, so I will periodically take those that seem to be the most common or important and try to answer them. Please keep in mind that many of these questions are worthy of far more time and attention than I can give to them here; therefore, I can only address them briefly. Even so, there can be merit to just addressing important issues superficially as even some of the New Testament epistles do the same. However, I am doing this to offer a perspective and a position rather than give in-depth answers. RJ.
Question One:
The Bible says in the last days there will be true prophets and false prophets, with false prophets performing many miracles which can deceive God’s own people. How can we tell if a prophet is false?
Answer:
This is probably a reference to the Lord’s statement in Matthew 24:24:
Signs and wonders follow true believers. As Pharaoh’s sorcerers proved, signs and wonders can be duplicated by deceivers for the purpose of deceiving. This is why the Lord told us that we should judge each one by their fruit, not by the signs and wonders that follow them.
Both the Lord’s messengers and the devil’s messengers will come with power. The battle between light and darkness is a power conflict, and as we proceed toward the end of this age we can expect it to increase. However, that is not all that the conflict is about. It is the battle between truth and deception. Just as the power the Lord gave to Moses easily surpassed that of Pharaoh’s sorcerers, the Lord can easily overwhelm the devil with His power. The Lord does not do this because He wants His truth to prevail, but loving the truth, not just power, should be the devotion of our hearts.
For this reason, the Lord does not send His messengers with the power to heal and to do miracles just to prove His power. He could do that much more boldly in ways such as stopping the sun from going down as He did through Joshua. The Lord sends His messengers with power to help people because He loves them. The Lord upholds the entire universe with the power of His word, and He could instantly rearrange it if He so chose to display His power. His power is demonstrated through His messengers to reveal His nature and character more than just His power. He heals because it is His nature to heal the afflicted. Therefore, we should be seeking His nature and to demonstrate His nature through the fruit of the Spirit as much as His power through the gifts of the Spirit.
Contrary to this, the devil sends his messengers to demonstrate his power in order to deceive, intimidate, and control. This is why the principle that the Apostle Paul taught in relation to the man of lawlessness is important, which we see in II Thessalonians 2:9-10:
and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
The proof that someone is from Satan is that he is in accord with “the activity of Satan.” This should be easy for even a new believer to discern. If someone is preaching the gospel, leading people to Jesus, this is not an activity of Satan. If someone is healing the sick, setting the captives free in the name of Jesus, and turning people to the Lord, it is the Lord.
We should be wary of those who are just preaching a doctrine instead of Jesus. Are they leading people to follow them instead of Jesus? Edgar Cayce had a remarkable gift of prophecy, and he claimed to be a Christian, read his Bible every day, and seemed to have a godly demeanor, but he did not lead people to Jesus or to the atonement of the cross, but to a psychic realm. The effect of what Cayce did was to lead people to seek supernatural knowledge completely apart from the Lord. We should not be in search of supernatural knowledge or power for any other reason than to serve the Lord.
To combine what both Jesus and Paul said concerning signs and wonders, we should evaluate those who do them by both the fruit and where they are trying to lead us. A good example of the contrast between the true and false signs and wonders is found in Acts 8:5-12:
And the multitudes with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.
For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.
And there was much rejoicing in that city.
Now there was a certain man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city, and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great;
and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God."
And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.
But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
Simon used magic arts to point to himself and make himself out to be someone great. Philip came proclaiming Christ and His kingdom, not himself. This does not mean that an immature evangelist will not talk too much about himself or maybe even use the signs to try to verify his own ministry, but if he is only doing this and not preaching Christ, then there is a serious problem.
Pride caused the fall of Satan, and it is the basic nature of Satan. Contrary to this love is the foundation of true spiritual authority. It was for this reason that when Jesus felt compassion for the sheep, He became their Shepherd. When He felt compassion for those in darkness, He became their Teacher. True spiritual authority is seeking to do good and set people free, not use the power of God to promote ourselves or control people.
We must also keep in mind that all mature prophets began as immature ones. One can be immature or even self-centered and prone to rebellion and sin like Jonah, but not be false, as we see that even the Lord Jesus verified Jonah’s ministry. Even Elijah came under such a severe depression that he was deceived into thinking that he was the only one left faithful to the Lord. He wanted the Lord to take him. It is right to examine the fruit and the place where the signs and wonders are leading us, but we must also keep in mind that even the greatest treasure is found in earthen vessels, and except for One, no other prophet or apostle has or will be perfect.
Paul the Apostle started out as an immature apostle, writing in one of his first letters that he was “not inferior to the most eminent apostles” (see II Corinthians 11:5). In a letter he wrote about six years later, he said that he was “the least of the apostles” (see I Corinthians 15:9). In a letter he wrote some years later, he said that he was “the very least of all saints” (see Ephesians 3:8). In one of his last letters, he wrote that he was “the chief of sinners” (see I Timothy 1:15). With his increasing maturity there was increasing humility, not pride. However, I think we would all like to have sat under the ministry of even an immature Apostle Paul.
False prophets are trying to lead people away from Christ to worship other gods, and their signs and wonders will lead them away from Him instead of to Him. When people are immature or are running from God’s purpose in their life like Jonah, or have serious errors in their life as Peter did at least twice, that does not make them false.
Question 2:
What is the significance of all the talk of angels?
Answer:
It should be a bit of a concern that so many seem to have a problem with this. The Bible talks far more about angels than anyone. The interaction of angels with people is found throughout the Scriptures. They are ministering spirits who minister to those who are the heirs of salvation, and they are messengers who are constantly bringing messages from God to His people. Seeing angels and receiving messages from them is actually far more normal for God’s people in Scripture than not seeing them and not receiving messages from them. The reason some may be having a problem with this is because they may not have seen them or received messages from them, but biblically, this lack of experience should be more of a concern than having them.
This is significant because the activity of angels seems to be increasing, which does seem to be a precursor to a major or important move of God, of which I think we certainly are in the first stages.
Question 3: What about this female angel named Emma that some claim to have seen and received messages from? Aren’t angels “neither male nor female?”
Answer:
When the Lord Jesus said that there would be no marrying in heaven, but we would be like the angels in heaven, neither male nor female, this is a truth we can be sure of (see Mark 12:25). However, as angels often appear as people, to the point that Paul even wrote that we sometimes entertain them without being aware of it, they are obviously appearing as either male or female, but that does not mean that they are.
I have seen many angels. I have seen them dressed and appearing like humans, and I have seen them in what appeared to be spiritual garb or a spiritual otherworldly substance. I have seen both angels and demons with swords, which I do not understand how a sword could have an affect in the spiritual realm, but at least some carry them. Maybe this is for our effect because how they appear is part of the message.
When I asked Bob Jones about Emma, the messenger angel who has come to him on occasion to declare that there would be an outpouring of healing, Bob felt that she came in this form that was to him like a mother’s compassion, which to Bob was the greatest compassion.
The meaning of the word Emma is “whole,” which is part of the revelation. In Scripture, when one was healed it was often said that they were “made whole.” This, too, is obviously part of the revelation that the Lord wants us to obtain by sending a messenger about healing whose name means “whole.”
I have also heard it said that there is an “Emma” who seems to be what the Bible calls “an angel of light” or a false angel. That would not surprise me, but it would surprise me if there was a false angel using this name without there being a real one. The reason why there are no counterfeit $3 bills is because there are no real ones. I have never known the devil to create anything, but only counterfeit what God is doing, just as there would not be any false prophets if there were not real ones. There are also cult angels that call themselves Michael or Gabriel.
I have witnessed the fruit of this angel called Emma visiting Bob Jones, and it was good and it was God, not the devil. Healing did break out; it glorified the Lord and not the devil, and it greatly encouraged and helped God’s people.
We must also heed the warning in Colossians 2:18-19: “Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head….”
This does not mean that everyone who sees angels or talks about them worships them, just as it does not mean that those who take their stand are inflated in their fleshly mind or do not hold fast to the Head. We need to keep in mind that there was no punctuation in the original text. For example, Peter took a stand on a vision he had seen that compelled him to first preach the gospel to the Gentiles. However, it is quite easy to tell those who are carnal-minded, not holding fast to the Head, and standing on visions, which will often be in conflict with the Scriptures or the Spirit of the Lord.
We should always keep in mind that prophecy, whether in dreams, visions, or words is never given to establish doctrine. This is the place for the Scriptures alone. Prophecy can confirm the teaching of Scripture, such as the vision that Peter had, but prophecy is usually for the purpose of revealing the strategic will of the Lord, not for doctrine.
Question 4:
How does one restore a fallen leader, and can a fallen leader return to the pulpit?
Answer:
This has been asked frequently, even though it does not seem to be directly related to the present outpouring. However, the “how to” of restoring fallen leaders is a question that may have a big impact, not only on the present outpouring, but on all future ones as well. The body of Christ, in general, has not done well in restoring falling leaders in recent times, but we must as we are told in Galatians 6:1:
One “how to” in restoration that we read here is to do it in a spirit of gentleness, looking to ourselves, which I think implies that we could all fall if it were not for the grace of God. Keep this in mind or we, too, will be tempted. We should never approach this with the arrogance that we have not fallen but rather just to help a brother or sister, who is also one of God’s own children.
We can also conclude from this verse that the “spiritual” do restore others. Restoration, which includes redemption and reconciliation, is the basic purpose of God in the earth, and is therefore a foundation of all true ministry.
We also can conclude from this verse that anyone who has done anything should qualify for restoration. However, restoration means far more than just forgiving them; it means getting them back to where they were before they fell.
It is also obvious that when one has fallen deeply and for a long time into a transgression, the restoration process will almost certainly be deep and lengthy. The restoration for those who fall means their minds must be renewed; a process that can take years for even the most devoted Christians. This is rarely an easy or quick matter.
For example, it would be wrong to treat a single fall to immorality the same way that we would someone who has been in one adulterous affair after another for many years. It is true that even a single adulterous encounter still reveals a gate of hell that is open into someone’s life, and it must be found and shut, but it is foolish to treat two entirely different matters like this the same.
Stealing a candy bar is not the same as murder. However, someone who murdered in an instance of jealous rage when doing something like catching a spouse in an affair, may not take as long to restore as someone who has been a petty thief all of his life. We have to take every case individually. I also doubt that there has ever been perfect repentance or perfect restoration. We are not trying to make people perfect, but whole.
Question 5:
How do you keep from sensationalism during a revival?
Answer:
Why try? I’m not saying by this that we shouldn’t try to control it, but if this is a big deal to us, it could be for a very bad reason, and we need to examine why it’s a big deal to us. In the Gospels, those who were offended were those who were the Lord’s constant opposers and accusers and who ended up having Him crucified. They hated the emotional expressions of the people toward the Lord or the things that He was doing. This is often a telltale sign of an evil religious spirit.
Revivals are sensational. Any touch from God is sensational, and people, in their exuberance, will be expressive about it. A good example is how the Lord told the woman at the well just one little detail about her life and she went running off telling the people in the city that He had told her “all the things that I have done” (see John 4:29). This was a bit sensational I would say, but the Lord used it, and soon those who came out to see Him believed because of their own experience.
We have no record of the Lord rebuking this woman, and by His typical style, I doubt that He did, but He may well have done some teaching on truth and loving truth that may have gently convicted her of these exaggerations.
If God is moving, we do not need to exaggerate. Because truth is our basic commodity, we need to be devoted to it in all things. However, it is hard not to get truly excited when God is moving. Some people are more emotional than others and are prone to see things bigger and grander than they may be, which is not the truth. It is just the way that they see things. Others see them darker and smaller than they really are and that is not truth either. However, in all things we need to strive for accuracy. We never need lies to testify of the One who is the Truth.
