Take heed: that no man deceive you. For MANY shall come in MY name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24:4-5)
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take heed:
- pay careful attention to this warning
- take notice of that which he says
- listen to, take note of that which he says, especially when it conflicts with doctrine
- keep in mind what he says and does
- be guided by that which he says and does
- watch out for
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(Comments by Joan Boney ... apostle and prophet of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to Ephesians 4:11-12)
What evidence do you have that a person is really a Christian?
* Does he speak of verses of scripture and carefully construct his life by those scripture, following the scriptures?
* Does he show real evidence of God leading him by HIS Spirit? (Saying things like: God reminded me of this scripture. God gave me a dream last night. God showed me to do this by bringing this concept to my mind by HIS Spirit.)
* Do you see examples of repentance when he fails to heed a scripture? Is he sorry for his wrong acts? Is he grieved over that which he spoke or did? Antichrist does not repent.
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Revelation 16:9;11 and they repented not to give Him glory.
... and repented not of their deeds.
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* He says he is a minister, HOW does he know this? HOW did God show him this?
A minister will have evidence of his calling. God will reveal the calling by some way.
If that person who says he is a minister, cannot tell me "how" God showed him this, I would not accept him as a minister of God. Evidence?
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If there is no evidence that a person is a Christian, then how can we accept that he is a Christian?
If there is no evidence of a calling from God and of God revealing to him that he is a minister, how can we accept him.
Evidence: (Joan Boney)
* 1976 ... I was transported into heaven in the night. I was with God, with Christ, with the Holy Spirit. At that time I was merged into the body of Jesus, God and Holy Spirit witnessing. A few nights later, the exact same thing happened to me a second time.
* 1976 forward ... God began giving me spiritual gifts for the church. It started for me at a prayer group that I attended. The women were praying. I heard, "Look up." I looked on the wall and I saw the outline of a stomach. After the women finished praying, I said, "Does someone have a stomach problem?" A woman in the group shouted and waved her hands in the air while saying, "I do ... I do"! The women prayed for her. After that, God often gave me a word of knowledge or word of wisdom at the Bible class or prayer group. Individuals began saying to me, "We know the hand of God is on you."
* Late 1970's ... Dale Evans Rogers came to Dallas for a book promotion. The man I was dating, who was Dale's publisher, invited me to go to dinner with him and Dale. God spoke a word to Dale concerning me. She said, "I don't know how I know this but God is going to mightily use you. You are going to have to stay very close to HIM."
* Late 1970's ... God spoke the following words to me by the Holy Spirit: "I have called you and set you into the body of Christ as an apostle." After that, God began teaching me about the work of an apostle in the New Testament church.
* Late 1970's ... Robert Tilton, pastor of the church I was attending at that time, said on Sunday morning from the pulpit, "Joan Boney is not a teacher. She is a prophetess." (I had never told anyone this although I felt it was true. For years God had been teaching me the scripture concerning the prophets and the work they did in the Bible.)
* Late 1970's ... A man from our church, who said he was a prophet, came to me at the business that I owned and said, "Joan, I have a message from God for you. You are dragging your heels. You know you are supposed to be a minister. You are still running a business." Then I closed my business and "went into the ministry." I had no where to go. I just stayed home at my apartment and read Bible and attended church meetings and prayer groups. I closed the business on July 31, 1979. On January 10, 1980 God gave me the following dream.
* January 10, 1980 ... While I was asleep, a very loud trumpet like voice spoke three words into my ear: Hartford, Seattle, KWJS ... I jumped out of bed and wrote "KWJS" on notepad. I looked it up and found it to be a radio station. I said to God, "Are YOU telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that." A thought from Holy Spirit came into my mind. "Call the radio station manager." That same morning I called the KWJS radio station manager. I said to him, "God might be showing me to go on radio. How would you do that?" He said, "Make an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and send it to me and if you fit our broadcasting, we will offer you a contract." Within 5 days, I was broadcasting exhortations for the church on radio KWJS. Within a year I was on radio from coast to coast, from "Hartford to Seattle" as I was told by "that voice" the night of January 10, 1980.
Is there evidence in these examples of God calling me to the ministry?
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A minister must be able to tell you HOW he knew God had called him to be a minister.
Kenneth Copeland ... Said he was a pilot for a preacher, Kenneth Hagin. Copeland listened to some of Hagin's preaching and began to think he could do "that".
So Copeland shut himself into his garage and began to "memorize" some of Hagan's tapes.
So Copeland shut himself into his garage and began to "memorize" some of Hagan's tapes.
There is no statement or evidence that God put Kenneth Copeland into a ministry. He "mocked", copied another minister.
Jude
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
(mockers: copiers ... imitators)
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
I do not believe Kenneth Copeland has the Spirit of God. I saw him preach many times in the late 70's and early 80's. I saw a fierceness of spirit in him as he stomped about the stage with his cleverness.
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Marilyn Hickey ... Said her close friend told her she was the most boring speaker she had ever heard. So Marilyn got an acting coach to help her to present materials.
The apostle Paul said of himself ...
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Marilyn tells very clever, enticing stories ... but I heard her several times in the early 1980's and the only thing I can remember from any of her meetings was a story where she sneaked an eggplant casserole into a covered dish dinner at church and hoped no one would know she cooked it. But a man took some of it and made a grimace and said to her, "Marilyn, did you cook this?" (It was funny and clever, and we all laughed ...but it also shows a sneakiness in Marilyn.)
I helped Marilyn at one of her meetings in Dallas sometime in the 1980's ... I met her when she arrived at DFW ... She was carrying with her a large number boxes which contained books, tapes, and Bibles which she sold at her meetings ... They arrived with her baggage. I wondered how she could afford to ship those boxes by air.
She told me how she did this. She said: "Take a large roll of dollar bills and go to curb side check-in and be sure the porter sees that money in your hand as you approach him. He will ship your boxes at no charge and you give him the large roll of bills."
At the time Marilyn told this, I didn't realize she was stealing from the airlines.
And Marilyn said with pride, "And I've taught Sarah my daughter to do this, and she can do this also."
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For other insights into ministers and what they do, go to the following names: Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland ... see Wikipedia
I delivered messages, as a prophet of God, to each of these men in the early 1980's.
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If you think gain is a sign of godliness, consider this:
I Timothy 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
I attended a museum dinner at Texas Tech University when I lived in Lubbock, Texas. We had assigned seating at round tables throughout the room. I was seated next to a man who was wearing around his neck the largest cross I have ever seen. I was horrified. This man began speaking immediately and said, "I'm former pastor at Indiana Street Baptist Church. Then he went on to say, "We have such a problem at the church." That caught everyone's attention. The people at our table began to look intently at him, wanting to know that problem at his church.
Then he said: "We have so many people trying to come to our church that we can't seat everyone. We've added to the church building three times and we still can't seat all the people who try to come to our services."
I said: "If you would teach what Jesus said, The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery, (Mt. 5:32) ... about 1/2 the people would get up and leave you and then you would have no problem at all seating all the people at your church."
(I got up from the table and fled the room, even before the dinner was served. There was no way I was going to sit with this man at a dinner.)
When you see a large crowd at a church, you will hear watered down doctrines and things being taught to approve people.
Gain is not a sign of godliness. It is the opposite!
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