I COULD CARE LESS
THE FALSE PROPHET
Chapter 6
Part 1
By
Doug Krieger
AS
IN THE DAYS OF NOAH
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37).
Perhaps the graphic viewed atop this article depicts American Empire – PAX AMERICANA – at its zenith and inheritor of Rome’s glory. Indeed, the “pleasures of sin for a season” – the rank militarism, surfeiting and the inane quest for unbridled entertainment, illusory cultural pursuits, Corptocracy, inventive genius, architectural achievement, technological superiority – all are compacted in this surreal display of Americana – but underlying these grandiose accomplishment and world endeavors is a pervasive and intoxicating delusion from which “all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (Revelation 18:3). Alas! “All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (II Peter 3:4).
Therefore, this tome rests not in the midst of the “Rise or Fall of American Empire?” but smack dab in the Babylonian Plain of Dura of The False Prophet – for the Master of Deceit and perpetrator of Laodicea’s expressive attitude and drivel reveals “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17) - it’s domiciled in the expression:
“Knowing this first: that scoffers (and some of them are the so-called leaders of the evangelical Church) will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation . . . for this THEY WILLFULLY FORGET: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed (AS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH) perished, being flooded with water . . . but the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition (i.e., “destruction”) of ungodly men” (II Peter 3:3-8).
How fitting to ascribe the preliminary work of the False Prophet who shall ascend from the earth – to feed the frenzy of the earthlings (Revelation 13:13-14 – those that “dwell on the earth”) and their aforementioned insatiable appetites for all things culturally carnal, conniving and corrupt; to wit:
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth (“earthlings” juxtaposed to those who have their stake in the “heavenlies” but live on this earthly clod—“Those who dwell in heaven”—Rev. 13:6) to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived” (Revelation 13:14).
The same earthlings so predisposed and given over to trivial pursuits in celebration of the demise of the Two Witnesses wherein their expression of Noahic utterance conveys their nihilism and vacuous lifestyles of the cultural elite and the precarious indifference of the multitudes who long to feast at their table:
“Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead body three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead body to be put into the grave . . . and those who dwell on the earth (i.e., “earthlings”) will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth”…YES…”they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away” (Revelation 11:9-10; Matthew 24:38-39).
Not only do youth have their invincibilities – the immortality of youth – but, alas, are the false prophets, even the false christs, who abound to this day and intensify their deceptions in man, money and the moribund mannerisms at the end of days . . . these are taking their licentious liberties to confuse the vulnerable and instill their sense of perpetual indulgence – an uninterrupted quest for temporal relief; even spiritual abuse through so-called prophetic vision and earthly concerns justified by campaigns on behalf of social justice or cultural wars upon our moral decay – so delusional is their final deception! Now, let the Scriptures confirm these dark suspicions while challenging, comforting and convincing us to “having done all to stand” against the tide of this age and herald His Coming to an indifferent generation which does not know – or COULD CARE LESS – that “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” awaiting their most frightful demise: “And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE OR THE DISCORDANT ORACLES?
Those of you who wish to tune out this mostly biblical review of His Coming – may do so now at your own peril! It is impossible to decry the present distress without delving into the pronouncements, warnings and encouragements found in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13 and Luke 21; the so-called Olivet Discourse.
On the negative – what provoked this evangelical outburst were several attitudinal references and one affirmation to the claims of Messiah’s Coming. Again, this will primarily center upon biblical interpretation and will enunciate those positions which are contrary to Pre-tribulationism and challenge us to embrace the Testimony of Jesus both now and throughout the 70th Week of Daniel’s prophecy. However, I am nauseatingly compelled to hang out some peripheral underwear dirtied by some of the most cleverly devised fables to date who persist in their cleverly devised fables to subvert the unsuspecting and sincere.
Sorry, I just can’t get Rick Warren’s indifference to the prophetic out of my craw! Furthermore, the ludicrous remark made by the pastor who claimed that Jesus wasn’t planning on returning for 400 years and, to top it off, could care less about Jews and their so-called prophetic claims to the Holy Land, etc. Then, adding insult to injury, I’ve got this charismatic prophet running around “seeing into the future” where Jesus doesn’t plan on coming back for the next fifty years! (Whereas Harold Camping has Jesus returning in 2011.) Alas! The Lakeland “Revival” has hit prophetic pay dirt and run amok as did the Toronto Blessing, Brownsville and a host of other apostasies which are fomented by charlatans and thieves upon the desperate and dismayed who spiritually long for the reality of His baptism with all sincerity, only to be sorely disappointed that false prophets abound among the faithful and make a mockery of our faith – may the Lord expose such practices and have mercy upon His flock in these awful days of apostasy and deception!
“BOB JONES: “What is the Lord doing? I brought a 100 year prophesy for a long time, let’s look at it.
· The 1950’s reveal the power of God. William Branham, Oral Roberts, AA Allen. The 1960’s reveal the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit invaded the denominations. The 1970’s reveal the great teachers of God and they began to raise up.
· The 1980’s reveal the prophets of God.
· The 1990’s reveal the government of God.
· The 2000 would reveal the glory of God. You haven’t seen anything. Wait till you see the next two years!
· The 2010 would reveal the faith of God. It’s not (that we) have the faith “in” God; it is to have the faith “of” God. And it’s going to be those that have that earring in and hear what God is saying. And what you’ll do, you’ll proclaim it. And you’ll bring it into being.
· The 2020’s reveal the rest of God. To where you can rest from your labors and God will work His work through you in your rest and in your peace.
· The 2030’s will reveal the family of God.
· 2040’s will reveal the kingdom of God.
· 2050’s will reveal the sons and daughters of God.
· I only saw ‘til 2060 and the church was still here and it wasn’t defeated by any means. It had really grown and looked a lot like Christ. So if you’ve got short range plans, make long range plans.” (Bob Jones ‘word’ from Florida, and “some” back-peddling by Lee Grady, P.J. Miller, May 15, 2008)
So, as we make our long range plans (Ah, for the good, old days and the doctrine of the imminent return of Christ espoused by the pre-tribulationalists!) let us consider the fact that somehow all this looks strangely familiar. Are there the real and the treasured experiences of Christ amongst this deception? Sure there is, just as there were the real and the miraculous, Christ-centered signs and wonders during the Welsh Revival at the turn of the Twentieth Century; but as we read in Jessie Penn-Lewis’ WAR AGAINST THE SAINTS, there was the hideous counterfeit and mockery of His presence among His people at the same time; Satan’s strategy is fraught with such malevolence:
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved . . . and for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” (II Thess. 2:9-11).
Disquieting is Evangelist Todd Bentley’s “bam, bam, bam” acceptance of the prophetic utterance of Bob Jones – coming from the sanctified lips of a man who once advocated the disrobing of women to “stand naked before the Lord!”
“Then, in another review of the Kansas City Prophets, Bill Alnor of the Christian Sentinel reported the following: ‘Jones, who was using his spiritual authority to induce women to disrobe for him, was removed from that church.’ I have contacted Bill personally and he will be forwarding me a copy of the investigative internal report that was published directly by the leadership team at the church where this incident transpired. The Apologetics Index, which is a ministry that researches resources on cults, sects and other religious movements, doctrines and practices, also reported on the matter. They state the following, that Bob Jones ‘was removed from the Vineyard Anaheim because of sexual improprieties, which consisted of encouraging women to undress in his office so they could stand ‘naked before the Lord’ in order to receive a ‘word.’’ In addition to this, several cult watch organizations have put him (Bob Jones) on watch for the same thing. Those are my sources concerning the sexual misconduct issue.” (Ibid.)
Could
this actually be the same Bob Jones who was banished from the prophetic pulpit
after moral failure and disclosures united him and his Kansas City
prophets, like Paul Cain, in some of the most spurious eschatological
utterances known to man and sanctioned by the late John Wimber of Vineyard
fame? (Note: Vineyard later banished Jones from the visible prophetic
ministry within the Church.)
“Last night (3rd May, 2008) according to another blog, Todd Bentley announced that ‘prophet’ Paul Cain was coming to speak at his meetings at Lakeland. Todd Bentley bought him a ticket and had him flown in so that he could speak about a prophetic word he gave in the past about healing revivals filling stadiums (the Joel’s Army prophecies that is, so Todd Bentley paid for a disgraced false prophet to validate his false revival). [Talk about perfect timing of releasing the prophecy on this site about Paul Cain, and the article by Deborah on the New Breed]. Paul Cain is the prophet who ‘prophet’ Bob Jones declares to be the most accurate prophet to walk this earth. The late Vineyard leader John Wimber was so enraptured, bewitched, fooled even (as he later admitted when it was far too late to stop the damage) by Paul Cain - as he was by Bob Jones and other associated Kansas City Prophets - to literally millions of people’s costs - that Wimber introduced Cain in the 1990 Equipping the Saints UK promotional tour (which I attended part of) as “the best wine for last”. (When warned that Kansas City Prophet Bob Jones was immoral, John Wimber retorted “We know, that is why we only let him pray for leaders!”*) R. T. Kendell of Westminster Chapel said of Paul Cain that he was ’his great and mighty conference partner’. [*source Jacob Prasch] (Paul Cain to appear with Todd Bentley at Tiger Town/ Joker Marchant Stadium; End Times Prophetic Words, Miriam Franklin, End Times Prophetic, Prophecy, Visions, May 3, 2008)
So it goes – that in these “mixed results” of God’s move among the imperfect and spawned by the less than ideal assets of the kingdom – we march on through the fog of our own devices, knowing this: It’s a minefield out there; a jungle of prophetic barbs and thistles that leave us all bleeding and suffering from our own lack of discernment and desperation for the spiritually viable – yet we are, so it seems, so eager to rally around the theatrical and the stupendous. . . the cumulonimbus that are but a vapor “that appeareth for a little while, then vanisheth away” and there is none to comfort the disillusioned adversely affected.
With leadership of this caliber, no wonder the church is bankrupt of real power, signs and wonders of His bounty among us. Instead of the Olivet Discourse we have the discordant sound of the oracles whose prophetic projections amount to hallucinations of spiritually infirmed men who trouble not the Scriptures to authenticate their fascinations and fantasies. There is so little true preaching of the Gospel of the Grace of God and of His Coming Kingdom, let alone His Kingdom among us, that the laughingstock of religion is found right in our own backyard – Lord, spare us all from ourselves and protect Your sheep from imposters who feed off their egos and bring Your Name to such shameful disgrace.
But then, how accurate are these days to which our Lord alluded in His Olivet Discourse?
SIGNS OF THE TIMES – NOW LEARN THIS PARABLE
Our focus is upon Mathew 24-25. The time and setting is immediately after Jesus’ final departure from the temple—the temple from which Jesus threw out the money changers and decried the religious leaders of scribes and Pharisees, those “Blind guides . . . hypocrites . . . self-indulgent . . . full of extortion . . . whitewashed tombs . . . full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness . . . inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness . . . witnesses against yourselves . . . sons of those who murdered the prophets . . . serpents . . . brood of vipers” – oh, and you say Jesus was not radical – trust me, He makes the Rev. Jeremiah Wright look like milquetoast!
Now, we must understand the setting – for Jesus reflects upon prophetic history and brings us to the climax of the end of days, to the very “Blessed” found in Daniel 12:12… “Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days” – from Able to His Second Coming in one fell swoop! This prophetic portrayal does not terminate in 70 A.D. by any stretch of the eschatological time clock.
“Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’” (Matthew 23:34-39).
We must come to terms with the stereoscopic presentation in this highly prophetic series of passages from the New Testament. Oh, the Preterists vainly design their truncated versions and delimit the scope of Jesus’ remarks to the Jewish “house of desolation” – as if the “Abomination of Desolation” occurred in 70 A.D.—but the stage has been set from Able’s blood through to the blessedness of the Second Advent. Therefore, know this, “Messiah shall be cut off” (Daniel 9:26) – yes, crucified, rejected of men, despised and forsaken – but were not the multitude of prophets, wise men, and scribes killed and crucified – past, present and future? Yes, yes and yes again!
“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1-2).
Do not fixate your prophetic gaze upon the Herodian Temple’s destruction – for, “immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. THEN the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. AND He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:29-31).
These cosmic wonders in the heavens have never happened. Oh, our Preterist brethren have somehow managed to visualize their occurrence in their convoluted time warps – but when have “all the tribes of the earth” mourned? Never!
As
the disciples gather upon the Mount of Olives – four days before Messiah is
cut off (Matthew
24:3) – they gather at the very site where His Second Advent will occur (Zechariah
14:3-4)! Anxious to hear from Him to “Tell us, when will these things
be? And what will be the SIGN OF YOUR COMING, and of THE
END OF THE AGE?” The Holy Ghost inspires Matthew to emphasize not the
immediate destruction of the Herodian Temple, but the Second Coming of Messiah
and the close of the entire age, not the truncated age of Preterism and of the
hyperbolic hermeneutic of these eschatological rapscallions who dare to make a
mockery of His coming in glory where every eye shall see Him! Brethren, turn
from your 70 A.D. return of Christ and embrace the true 70 – the
70th Week where, at the end thereof, shall the sign of the Son of Man appear
in heaven and THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING!
The mood of the Church Age – that 2,000-year time frame proceeding from His crucifixion until now – has witnessed throughout this time, but wholly intensifying until His coming in glory, the following:
“And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you (especially, those false prophets which declare 70 A.D. as the finality of His Coming in glory – and those who audaciously claim divinity of one sort or another). For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:4-6).
And, indeed, “the end is not yet” – for only when “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). What false restriction do we witness when the Preterist claim that the Roman World constitutes “all the nations” – when, in point of glaring fact, legions of barbarians and countless millions in Africa, Asia and the New World had not yet heard the gospel preached to them by 70 A.D.? What rank distortion of Scripture is this? What hyperbolic defamation of the King’s English has been wrought here? Shame upon these blighted theological nitwits, who, as Paul so well defined:
“They set themselves up as experts on religious issues, but haven't the remotest idea of what they’re holding forth with such imposing eloquence” (I Tim. 1:7 – “The Message” Translation).
Even so . . .
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS” (Matthew 24:7-8).
I
hasten to add here that the “beginning of sorrows” has commenced since the
preaching of the gospel and accelerates until that Day, the Day of the Lord,
when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the
stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matthew
24:29). This same expression is confirmed in the following counterparts
in God’s Word:
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD . . . for behold, IN THOSE DAYS and AT THAT TIME, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land” (that last statement does not bode well for Bush’s “two state solution”) (Joel 2:30-32; 3:1-2).
“I looked, when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every salve and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the WRATH OF THE LAMB! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:12-17)
Allow me to be wholly unambiguous here. Peter’s proclamation of the gospel in Acts 2 and, specifically, his quoting of Joel 2:28-32 in his inaugural message does not obfuscate the prescient cosmic phenomenon yet future. Peter’s prophetic outburst was in keeping with “the spirit of the prophet” – indeed, the immediate preaching of the Second Coming of Messiah overshadows the aftermath of His ascension as found in Acts 1:11:
“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
There is no contradiction nor hyperbole in Peter’s statements. He is preaching the ascended Christ – the one Who “will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven!”
Yes, the disciples commenced the beginning of sorrows as the Lord told them their fate – and of all those over the millennia who should and would and will suffer for His sake:
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matthew 24:10).
And, in the midst of all this suffering, there would be rank deception and many false prophets . . .
“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end (Note: TO THE END – and that END is found in Matt. 24:14 and described in detail in Matthew 24:29-31) shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-13).
This should convince us all that the saints – yes, the Church of the Living God – all those who name His Name and declare His Lordship both then and now – will endure until the VERY END . . . there is no rapturous hiccup seven years prior to the pouring out of His wrath upon the earthlings! He will gather “His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other . . . after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29-31).