Many years ago, the Lord showed me a picture of the earth as seen from space, and it was being enclosed in a net. The net was growing stronger and thicker all the time. I understood that each time true believers prayed in the will of God and took action against demonic deception, a piece of this net was broken - so satin had to waste time mending. Believers could not completely halt the formation of the global network, but they could delay and disrupt it.
This picture made little sense at the time. Gradually, however, pieces of the overall puzzle fell into place. One clue was this verse: woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. (Is.30, verses 1-2).
In Hebrew, that phrase cover with a covering is literally WEAVE A WEB. They are making a net, a network, but not of God. Not of the Holy Spirit. [Isn't it interesting that the shepherding/restorating was once known as the Covering Movement!]
GLOBAL NET. Graham Kendrick [song writer], in his book shine Jesus Chine also describes a picture of the earth. He says that during a meeting of worship leaders from different cultures and denominations, he had a vision:
Jesus said when He went back to Heaven - The world will see me no more, but you (believers) will see me " 1 (John 14:19), and he told his disciples that no one knows the Son but the Father, and no-one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him (Mt.11:27).
There will NOT be an open revelation to the whole world in the way that Kendrick describes. He speaks of Jesus appearing to all men as a result of praise and worship, and this Jesus OVERSHADOWS THE EARTH. Kendrick calls this image: the face of Jesus, DRAWING ALL EYES, THE FACE THAT MAGNETIZES the millions of hearts into one adoring focus 2
Graham Kendrick is the singer-song writer who writes the music for the March for Jesus. He is in effect saying that the type of songs used on the marches carries a POWER TO ATTRACT PEOPLE to the one they are worshipping.
In his book, Kendrick uses proof texts such as Psalm 22 which says all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you, for the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations.3
Although this scripture is really a prophecy of the millennial reign of Jesus, Kendrick uses it to imply that the ground-swell of praise generated in the praise marches will eventually cause all nations to worship God before the return of the Lord Jesus.
No, this is not how things work out, according to the Scriptures! Jesus is not revealed to all nations by prayer and praise in the Church. He is revealed as Saviour to believers only! The rest of the world, will cower as they see Jesus return to earth as Judge.
However - and here is the great danger - BEFORE the millennial reign we know the WHOLE EARTH WILL WORSHIP, and adore their messiah but he will not be Jesus Christ. A FALSE MESSIAH WILL BE WORSHIPPED.
NETWORKING.
This universal worship and global adoration will be achieved by a system called NETWORKING - WEAVING A WEB. Ken Keyes, a new-age leader has written - it IS A NEW RELIGION CALLED Networking 4
Networking is a scheme of bringing together small differing groups and linking them spiritually with lines of power. THE EARTH IS THE GLOBAL BRAIN, according to the new-age way of thinking, and the linkage points represent the nerves of the brain. When all the nerve cells are linked, the brain can think and act as one. In this way they suppose global harmony and spiritual advance can be achieved.
A key new-age writer, Marilyn Ferguson, has described the usefulness of the network system:
In the book March for Jesus the power-lines that are to link the network together were seen in vision. During the Y.W.A.M. Torch Run in 1988, committee member John Pressdee saw a picture of spiritual power-lines: He saw two heavy-duty power-cables that were to be joined on the 16th September when the two groups of walkers converged on London to light one giant flame. He said,
The electricity grid throughout Britain is a symbol of the prayerwalk team's prayers for networks and relationships to grow among Christians. These would become a SPIRITUAL GRID SYSTEM through which the Holy Spirit might flow to flood the nation with the light of the gospel. Churches uniting in prayer would spread this revival power, like the pylons and high-tension wires, CARRYING THE POWER THROUGHOUT THE LAND. And now, together with other nations of Europe and beyond, WE ARE PLUGGING INTO A MUCH GREATER GOSPEL POWER-GRID. This one could stretch across the globe with the pylons and power cables or united prayer, praise and proclamations 8
Now the power grid, the web, the net, is almost complete, and the next year the first global march for Jesus is to take place. It is called, A DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.
JUNE 24, 1994. (Despatch note: Of course, this has already happened).
On June 24, 1994, organizers hope that in every city and every nation, millions of Christians of every denomination will march on the streets at 2 p.m. local time. This has never happened before in the history of the Church.
On the very same day in June, a major meeting of A D 2000 WORLD EVANGELISATION will be assembled in Seoul, Korea. This organisation is dedicated to evangelising the world by the year 2000.
Other events are taking place around the same time. Co-incidentally (?), the EARTH SUMMIT, already begun in Manchester [England] in September 1993, will take place between June 26 and July 3, 1994. This second series of meetings will be the Global Forum of the new Earth Summit. Its primary focus is to implement the Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit - (subtitled, a blueprint for global action). Some 250,000 participants are expected for events and meetings designed to stimulate yet more concern for our ailing planet.
The Christian environmental scheme, WHOSE Earth will also be represented. Although participating Christians are trying to maintain a scriptural basis, and do point out the heavy new-age elements in the Earth Summit, they fall short of real discernment. Whose Earth, organized by British Youth for Christ, Tearfund, Evangelical Alliance and Spring Harvest, are taking the line that Christ came to redeem all creation including the planet, thus it is for the Church to bring that redemption into effect.
HEALING THE LAND.
There is now an urgency to finalize the plans for restoration. The vision is for global revival and millions of souls saved. A secular writer comments on such plans:
While post-millennialists of an earlier day had focused on issues of social justice, the Reconstructionalists were more preoccupied with imposing their own stern morality on the world - (their) strategy remained vague, but their long-term objective was clear. OUR GOAL IS WORLD DOMINION BUT UNDER CHRIST'S LORDSHIP, A WORLD TAKEOVER IF YOU WILL - WE ARE THE SHAPERS OF WORLD HISTORY. 9
WHAT KIND OF GOSPEL?
There are two questions we must ask: what is the ultimate aim, and what kind of gospel will be preached? At this point, many will be shocked - but as a watchman I have to say, get ready to be yet more shocked. Many were offended at the hard sayings of Jesus, and turned away from Him, (John 6:60-66) but His words held profound spiritual meaning for those who stayed the course and listened to Him.
Before the end of these things, before Jesus comes to gather us, there will be so many subtle, devious and counterfeit events that our souls will cry Mercy! The deception is drawing nearer and nearer to the truth, until hardly any distinction can be drawn - yet there IS a difference.
This difference can always be found in the Word of God, our only foundation and plumbline.
False gospels look for a SOLUTION to this world's crisis situation, not an ESCALATION into inevitable judgement. They preach the RESTORATION of all things, not the REDEMPTION of individual souls. They seek a NEW AGE that involves converting most of the world's population, whereas the Bible prophesies THE KINGDOM REIGN OF ANTICHRIST, followed by dreadful judgments.
The true gospel says the problem is fallen man who needs a Saviour. The answer is to be born again of the Spirit and restored to God. Simple as that. Throughout all ages, in every nation at every time, this has been the gospel of God - calling men and women to repent, and to be reconciled to God the Father through Jesus Christ. This gospel does not need to be made more relevant, updated, modernized or changed to suit present-day circumstances.
Lets see what the Bible says about this:
If the Apostle Paul saw fit to question a pseudo-gospel that was leading believers astray, then surely we must do the same?
SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
Perhaps an appropriate illustration of this is the JESUS MARCH - an event that many participants perceive as straight evangelism.
What is the focus of these marches?
Is it simply to save souls, to preach the gospel?
NO. Several times throughout the book,
GOD TOLD US TO MARCH - OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE THEOLOGY OF WHAT WE WERE DOING CAME LATER. 11
The four leaders felt they had to obey the prompts they were getting and they worked out the theology later. Thus the Jesus March idea was based on subjective feelings - and now the founders admit there is no New Testament scriptural basis for what they are doing. BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER, they say! What is important is unity and agreement amongst the participants about what they are trying to achieve.
Amongst other things, Roger Forster says the March is CLAIMING TERRITORY FOR GOD IN PRAYER by pulling down the strongholds of Satan. But in doing so, he admits THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING!
Spiritual Warfare was the aim from the very beginning. Before the marches began, the founders were already inclined that way:
LYNN GREEN: (1985)
This is accomplished by pulling down the spiritual rulers that the Bible says were ordained of Him - (Romans 13:1-2). Also, it is pertinent to ask WHAT will replace these spiritual rulers, supposing they can be pulled down?
In order to challenge the spiritual forces effectively, the prayers of the participants had to be directed by a script. The script for the first March said:
Bankruptcies, redundancies, financial ruin, suicides - was this the fruit of the Jesus March? Let's not forget that three days earlier, the infamous hurricane had hit the South-East, felling a million trees and wrecking thousands of homes. A few weeks later, London suffered the fireball disaster at King's Cross Tube Station in November of that year - yes, it certainly was year when SOMETHING HAPPENED.
Did London become a less immoral or greedy city as a result? Was there revival? Did people turn to God in repentance? No. Are we a more God-fearing nation after six years of marching? NO. Crime figures continue to rise, pornography, drugs, abortion - all are worse than ever. There has been no national repentance or profound social change, quite the reverse.
REPRESENTATIVE NUMBER.
The Marches were mobilizing large numbers of Christians, but how was it possible to turn this energy into visible results? Roger Forster and Gerald Coates felt they had found the answer to their questions when they went to a meeting of DAWN 2000, Discipling A Whole Nation. Thus, after a series of consultative meetings with other leaders, another major evangelistic scheme was born - the JIM CHALLENGE. This nationwide evangelistic scheme calls itself The Greatest Evangelistic Vision Of The Decade the vision is for 250,000 people to be won in ten days in March, 1994.
Jim Montgomery, founder of DAWN 2000, explains the principle behind his brainchild: if, in every locality, you plans A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ARE INCARNATING CHRIST IN THEIR LOCAL NEIGHBOURHOOD, 18 then everyone in that locality is within reach of the gospel. Furthermore, he says,
HUNDREDTH MONKEY.
Those conversant with new-age teaching will have heard of the hundredth monkey idea - it has entered into the mythology of the Movement.
The story goes that a group of monkeys on an isolated island were given sweet potatoes, and eventually one monkey learned to wash his treasure in the sea. He taught others, and so on. But when the hundredth monkey had learnt the secret, suddenly all the other monkeys on the island knew how to wash their potatoes without being shown. From this we apparently deduce that all nature including mankind is linked by a global consciousness, and that once a representative number have grasped a new concept, then all others will know it instinctively.
Not only is this incorrect, but it can never be applied to the gospel. People don't get saved by catching the gospel instinctively from other people, like a dose of the flu. However many people in a neighbourhood are saved, each new convert still has to hear the Word of God and make a reasoned response.
Nevertheless, this principle is being utilized for the JIM Campaign. Paul Weaver, who is the project's co-national director, explains: it has been estimated that 250,000 people were in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and in one hour 3,000 were saved. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO BRING A MODERN-DAY PENTECOST? he asks. Out of the entire population of the United Kingdom, the equivalent number would be 650,000 - if that representative number were saved in one hour, Paul Weaver says, it would bring a second Pentecost to our nation.
But wait, there are some problems with this:
1. Did it matter to God how many or how few were in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost? If there had been a million people present, would the same 3,000 have been saved?
2. Three thousand were saved in one hour, true, - but did the event BRING PENTECOST? No, the Holy Spirit was poured out, as prophesied, at God's command and in His own timing. The 3,000 were saved AS A RESULT of this event.
3. Did the salvation of the 3,000 bring revival to the rest of the 250,000 in Israel - no.
4. So, by the same token, if 650,000 are saved in the United Kingdom, will it bring a modern-day Pentecost as Paul Weaver states. Will the Holy Spirit be poured out on the nation as a whole? I think not.
The JIM Campaign, like the Jesus March, is a highly organized event. Their literature claims that each church can do its own thing, provided it is linked to the organisation as a whole. However, Paul Weaver has organized training sessions for all leaders, with a resource pack containing a 40,000-word book telling leaders how to do it with explanations of over 30 different approved evangelistic methods. The leaders are to be told in great detail how to target their community, how to analyze it spiritually, and how to attack it in spiritual warfare
What If You Oppose This?
The Jesus March and evangelistic events are designed to bring all denominations together in unity - UNITY IS THE KEY. The organizers believe Christ cannot come until there is full visible unity in the Church. Anyone who stands in the way is accused of destroying this unity - and that's also why doctrine is thrown out. Doctrine divides, they say - so let's ignore the scriptures and concentrate on love and unity.
Those who dare to raise points of doctrine are called nit-picking fundamentalists. Gerald Coates says:
There is a ban on examining the scriptures - because it shows up the shaky foundation of the whole scheme - Gerald Coates is uncomfortable with anyone who asks - HOW DO YOU SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF THE JESUS MARCH FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES? - because he knows full well he can't do it!
To cover up the poverty of their theology, such teachers hide behind one or two texts plucked out of the Bible, such as JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED and TOUCH NOT THE LORD'S ANOINTED.
Employing personal criticism as their weapon, they accuse brothers and sisters of unloving attitudes while backing away from the real issue - the correct understanding and use of scripture.
Francis Frangipane devoted a whole chapter to people he calls fault-finders, in his book on taking the cities by spiritual warfare. These are the spanners in Restoration's well-oiled machinery, because they are hindering the next move of God he says. These people are planted by Satan, he says, and he accuses them of being possessed by a fault-finder demon:
In my experience, most correction has been delivered gently and lovingly, as the Bible commands, by those whom the Lord has commissioned as watchmen. It has kept to its remit of scriptural exegesis, and not wandered off into groundless personal attacks. But in calling these watchmen demonized accusers of the brethren, Frangipane deflects from himself and his militant teachings any proper discussion of their theology. Clever.
And if any DO dare to question - then what?
In it, he condemns those who hold up current teachings to the light of scripture (for example Hank Hanagraaf) as wolves amongst the flock, false prophets, heretics are those who attack (as he calls it) the Word-of-Faith teachers. Not content with name-calling, he goes on to damn these biblical apologists to hell.
He quotes 2 Peter 2:3 which says their damnation slumber not and says THERE IS COMING A CURSE SO FINAL AND IRREVERSIBLE that God not only gives them up but send upon them strong delusion that they might be damned. (2 Thess. 2:11-12).
But the future for the kingdom-builders is very different, he claims. No plagues will touch THEM - the death angel will pass over THEM, and:
Following in the footsteps of Rome, they denounce their critics as hell-bound heretics. They are the new Crusaders who show no mercy, for their goal is world domination. Will they then, as Rome did, mount an INQUISITION to search out, test and eliminate the so-called antichrists, these trouble-makers who destroy unity and dare to challenge their plan?
THEY WILL! This is their belief and aim. Ulf Ekman, a word-of-Faith teacher has said:
What Then Shall We Do?
I have been saying for many months that the greatest danger will come when the prophecies of global revival WILL SEEM TO BE FULFILLED! The danger is not now, when the restoration of all things looks impossible - but when it all actually happens; when signs and wonders DO begin to break out, and when thousands ARE flocking to join this great move of God, and when it looks like the Kingdom of God really IS coming to pass upon the earth.
If that happens, we will all have to choose. Will we continue to believe in the Endtime scenario as laid out in scripture - the AntiChrist, the tribulation, the rapture, the millennium and so forth - or will we conclude that we must have been mistaken?
Is there anything we can do to prepare ourselves for that critical choice? Certainly. We must take a stand NOW on the Rock of Salvation - the Lord Jesus - and ON HIS WORD. WE MUST DO AS HE SAYS:-
We can also be discerning about the teachings we hear and the company we keep. Take everything to the Bible and CHECK IT OUT. Then obey the Lord's command with regard to false teachers. The Bible is clear. It says we are to REPROVE such people, (2 Timothy 4:1-5) and if they refuse to be corrected then to WITHDRAW from them. (Ephesians 5:3-11).
REPROVE FALSE TEACHERS AND WITHDRAW FROM THEM.
And meanwhile...
1. Kendrick, Shine, Jesus Shine, P.243.
2. Kendrick, Ibid., P. 245.
3. Kendrick, Ibid., P. 248.
4. New Age Cults & Religions, T. Matts, P. 34.
5 . The Aquarian Conspiracy," M. Ferguson, p.216-
6. Ibid., P. 215.
7. March for Jesus, P. 66.
8. Ibid., P. 115.
9. When Time Shall Be No More, Paul Boyer, 1992, quoting David Chilton.
10. March for Jesus, P. 66.
11. Ibid., P. 135.
12. Ibid., P. 140.
13. March for Jesus, P. 17.
14. Ibid., P. 17.
15. Ibid., P. 19.
16. Ibid., P. 24.
17. Ibid., P. 28.
18. DAWN 2000 J. Montgomery, p.56.
19. Ibid.,p. .
20. March for Jesus, P. 13.
21. Frangipane, House of the Lord - God's Plan To Liberate Your City
From Darkness, P. 134.
22. Faith That Takes A Nation addr. at Faith'90.
23. A Call to Christian Jihad Mae Eye, P. 103 quoting Rushdoony, The
Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. 1, 1973.
24 .Francis Frangipane, Charisma, July, 1993.
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