The wave of false prophets that has swarmed over the internet for the past decade or so has produced some very prolific practitioners, but probably none more so than Dr. Maurice Sklar.
His prophetic messages pop up everywhere on Christian forums. It would seem at first glance that the Lord speaks to this man very often, on very many topics. But on a closer look, we can see that its not always, or even mostly, or possibly even at all the Lord who is speaking to him.
Every once in a while, there comes along the pike a false prophecy that is so astounding in its depth of detail and degree of falsehood that it literally takes my breath away. One such prophecy that has made the rounds for the last few years on many forums and websites is the spectacular “Preparation of the Bride” prophecy issued November 24th, 2005, by none other than Dr. Sklar.
http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/Preparation_of_the_Bride/preparation_of_the_bride.html
Dr. Sklar is an accomplised musician. To get an idea of Dr. Sklar’s prophetic ministry, it is helpful to read a list of crusades and meetings he has ministered at, either musically or otherwise participating. Among the names that jump out are:
Kenneth Hagin, Jr., Kenneth Copeland, Che Ahn, Benny Hinn, Rod Parsley,…. you get the idea. A roll call of some of the most apostate of the current apostasy in the church today.
You might remember Che Ahn as the one who made the truly memorable statement to Todd Bentley back in 2008, during the height of the Lakeland false revival in Florida that year, “I must decrease that you might increase.” Need we say anymore about someone who would quote John the Baptist’s reference to Christ, in referring to Todd Bentley?
Benny Hinn needs no introduction. His truly heretical antics have made a mockery of the faith for decades. Rod Parsley is the one who last year asked his followers to send in one million dollars in donations to “ward off satanic attacks.” Kenneth Copeland is a false teacher who for decades has been using the “word of faith” and “name it and claim it” false prosperity gospel to grow personally rich.
What are some of the “prophetic words” Dr. Sklar has issued over the years? This whopper of a failed prophetic word that we will focus on, issued in 2005, stands out as one of the most fantastic failures of any prophecy I have ever seen, and it will be revealing to dissect this message to learn from it.
Details of the 2005 “Preparation of the Bride” prophecy
Since it is so long, I will take cut it down into pieces and snippets, and from that a big picture will eventually emerge. Here we go, into a wonderland of prophetic mystery, all incredibly ascribed to be the words of the Lord God Almighty Himself:
“New York City will receive 3 major judgments before the end of 2008. Each one will be more devastating than the last. One will shake the entire financial world and cripple the once invincible financial power of America. Millions will lose everything in a moment. It will make the crash of the stock market in 1929 look like a little thing in comparison. America will no longer be the financial leader of the world. Another judgment will destroy a major stadium during a sports event. Yet another explosion will destroy nearly an entire Borough of New York. But for the sake of the Jewish people in New York, I will supernaturally spare them. After this, I will cause the largest aliyah (return) of My people (the Jewish people) from New York (and other regions throughout the developed world to Israel) in all of history. But only after the entire financial system that they are dependant on collapses will they all return to the land that I have promised them.”
Is it just me, or are other people of the Christian faith just as shocked as I am that someone could put these words in the Lord’s mouth, and be totally unrepentant about it afterward?
Enough people repented, so the Lord changed his mind!
This disclaimer is added on somewhere in the middle of the lengthy prophetic word:
This is but a fraction of what is soon to come IF there is not repentance and turning back to Me.
This is the new “out” for the false prophet that is so popular these days. When what the Lord supposedly tells them fails completely to come to pass, it was because of repentance on the part of the people. Did anyone notice a great wave of repentance that swept over New York City between 2005 and 2008?
What Biblical reference point do we have to get an idea of how much repentance is required for God to withhold His hand of judgment? When we look at the story of Jonah and his prophetic warning to the city of Nineveh, we see that every single person in the city, right down to the cattle in the fields, wore sackcloth and ashes.
When God issues a prophecy with conditions attached, it is clearly stated within the prophecy itself. God doesn’t leave us guessing. The Nineveh warning was issued by God in a clearly conditional manner, with the condition being stated by God Himself. When you see a prophet tack on a disclaimer, or allow a disclaimer to be tacked on, to his prophecy that “it may not occur if enough people repent”, this is a red flag we should be aware of.
Lets look further into it. Earlier in this same 2005 prophecy, there is this to say about the year 2007:
There shall be 5 terrorist attacks that will hit America in ever increasing destruction upon the major cities. Before the end of 2007, a nuclear “dirty bomb” will blow up in a major city in the south of America.
The false prophecies continue:
There will follow two more judgments one in a major city of Europe and one in the Arab nations in the middle east before the end of this year. (2005)
Followed by:
Tokyo, Japan. Hong Kong, China. Johannesburg, South Africa. Calcutta, India. Sidney, Australia. Chicago, Illinois. Los Angeles, California. Paris, France and many other cities will experience major catastrophies in the next five years. (Editor’s note: meaning: by 2010). Millions upon millions will perish.
It takes one’s breath away to ponder how anyone with any fear of the Lord at all, even at the most basic level, could still be issuing prophetic words today, after such a colossal failure. Its seems as if he doesn’t even break stride, failure after failure, not even considering the consequences of dishonoring the word of the Lord in this manner. We have been clearly warned in scripture against doing this.
The prophetic words keep coming, all of this indicated to occur within the 2005 to 2009 time frame:
I will shake California in a warning, and then there shall finally come the earthquake that I have mercifully withheld for so many years. Millions shall perish in the ensuing floods and the west coast of America shall be removed and fall into the ocean.
Note: Dr. Sklar continues to this day to base his ministry in Victorville, California, the same West Coast area God supposedly told him would fall into the ocean.
And this:
Boston shall experience a major attack upon a great school that once preached My gospel in ages past but has left the faith of their fathers never to return again. It will never be rebuilt again.
And still more rings out:
The aids epidemic will devastate the population in Africa to half of its’ present size in the next 4 years.
Wait a minute here. African population cut in half by 2009?
And this:
North Korea will launch a sudden nuclear attack and then be completely destroyed. Only the prayers of South Korea can stop it.
Note: The North Korea nuclear attack didn’t occur. So in order to support this prophecy the theory that South Korea repented sufficiently needs to be quickly called onto the playing field to plug this leak in the prophecy.
The “Taking Billy Graham home” Story Line
But for me, the real sucker punch in this whole prophecy was the assertion that God was revealing to the seer that He was going “to take Billy Graham and Oral Roberts home.” Well, lets see, Oral Roberts did die four years after the prophecy, at the age of 91. Can we call this a prophecy that someone 87 would die within 4 years?
And about Billy Graham. Lets have a closer look at what Dr. Sklar has been passing on to us, supposedly from God, about Rev. Graham’s fate, in the time since this 2005 word. This is where the tale takes a definite turn for the worse, if that is even possible. In my research, I began to see that Dr. Sklar has been prophetically declaring the imminent passing of Reverand Graham for many, many years.
In recent times, Dr. Sklar has claimed God told him he is “taking Billy Graham home” on the following occasions, with the title and date of the prophetic word in bold:
November 24, 2005 “Preparation of the Bride” as noted above.
June 4, 2009 The Coming Threats To the United States of America http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/The_Coming_Threats/the_coming_threats.html
July 13, 2010 The Restrainer http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/The_Retrainer/the_retrainer.html
December 1, 2011 “The Lord Says”
http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/Prophecy/prophecy.html
“The Lord Says” prophecy was released a day after Billy Graham was admitted to hospital in serious condition with pneumonia. Here the Lord is clearly quoted as telling Dr. Sklar that Rev. Graham’s passing will occur SOON.
August 16, 2012 The Red Horse of War http://www.injesus.com/messages/content/414964
The Red Horse of War prophecy was released 3 days after Billy Graham was admitted to hospital with bronchitis.
So you see, basically every year, Dr. Sklar issues a prophetic word saying God told him Billy Graham will pass away, or at least to “watch” for his passing. In the case of two of these prophetic utterances, Reverend Graham had been admitted to hospital just before the issuance of the prophecy.
But when I looked a little further into this prophecy, I found this “death of Oral Roberts and Billy Graham” prophecy was not new. It actually originated from the mouth of none other than Benny Hinn. In an old broadcast recently reshown on TBN, Hinn stated:
“The Lord said to me in ’89…sorry, yeah, ’89. He said when Oral Roberts and Billy Graham go home will be the key—it will be the sign—of the beginning of the greatest revival on earth. Oral is home. Billy is about to go home. And when he does, I am telling the whole church, get ready.”
So when one checks further back to what he actually said in 1989, it was the following, in a string of New Years Eve prophecies Benny Hinn recorded at his Florida church, Orlando Christian Center:
“The Lord also says that, Two of his great giants will die in the mid-90’s. They’ve held the torch of revival for the last forty years, these two. One of them has been to this church, and the other has not. One will die suddenly while asleep. And the other will die of sickness. And as both giants die, which will be in the mid-90’s, I will shake this world with a last revival. Their death will be the closing pages of this move.
I think a few things are clear here:
(1) God knows exactly when Billy Graham will pass from his mortal body.
(2) While God works in mysterious ways, He doesn’t work in confusing or incongruous ways. For God to reveal to Dr. Sklar, or Benny Hinn, anything about the mortal passing of Rev. Graham would be surprising enough, but to be confusing about the timing seems even more out of character for the Almighty God we know about through His Word.
(3) Neither Dr. Sklar, nor Benny Hinn years before him, were actually receiving heavenly bulletins about the medical condition of Rev.Graham. Billy Graham continues to live. God is the only one who knows the timing of his, or anyone else’s, passing.
How can any thinking, scripturally knowledgeable, and God fearing Christian come to any other conclusion than that this is an abomination to claim to fellow Christians that God speaks to them in this manner?
Other Prophetic Visions From Dr. Sklar
You might think, well, the prophet was just having a bad day when he issued this message. I don’t think the Lord was having a hard time getting through to him, or was unclear. So perhaps his prophetic radar in some way wasn’t functioning that day. Thus to be fair, lets take a look at some of the other teachings this person has issued over the years. Some examples are the following:
The Vision of Heaven (Aug. 4th, 2010)
http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/A_Vision_of_Heaven/a_vision_of_heaven.html
On Wednesday, August 4th, 2010, at about 10:30 AM, an angel came into my bedroom, I had just awakened. He said to me, “I am sent from the Lord to bring you to heaven. You must now come with me. Take my hand.” So I did. Suddenly, I was in the spirit realm. We ascended out through the ceiling of my home and shot up into the air like a rocket.
What follows is a vividly detailed description of heaven itself.
Soon I saw a large white tent “city” of sorts………It had twelve tent pavilions; each with a white cone that went up at
least ten stories high. On top of each “cone” was a flag that the
angel said was a flag for each of the twelve tribes of Israel……….As we entered into the tent of Benjamin, I saw many tables that were at least a hundred feet long. Each was lavishly set with gold cutlery, crystal goblets and plates that looked like they were made out of mother-of-pearl.
He then goes on to describe entering a heavenly concert hall:
The angel quietly spoke in my ear. This is a concert in your honor.
The composer, Gustav Mahler is here in heaven. He has composed a symphony for you. Then the Lord came out on stage and conducted! ……Then, when the music started, I went into a realm of ecstasy that I cannot describe in words…… But the music was like a living movie or a vision…… I listened and I saw many good things that I had done to love people on earth.
There is some biblical precedent for people getting glimpses of heaven. Elijah and Enoch were both taken up to heaven directly without tasting death. But they never returned to tell anyone what it was like. Lazarus never spoke much later on about what he had seen in the four days before he was resurrected.
The detail of Dr. Sklar’s visit to heaven is stunning in comparison with the scarce information we get from Scripture of what heaven is like. John the Apostle was the only one in the Bible who provided anything close to the kind of detail about heaven provided by Dr. Sklar, and that detail comes through visions related in the book of Revelation. It seems that Dr. Sklar has the advantage over John, in that his imagery comes from an actual visitation, not a dream or vision.
(…….at about 10:30 AM, an angel came into my bedroom, I had just awakened.)
Fishing With William Branham
http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/Recent_Vision/recent_vision.html
A remarkable vision Dr. Sklar says he was given to release to us is this tale of a fishing trip where he encountered the deceased William Branham. Branham appeared beside him in a small fishing boat. He asked Maurice to release 25 of his “lost sermons” that contained an important message for the present times. This vision really has to be read to do it justice.
William Branham was a man who lived about half a century ago, who was kind of a forerunner for numerous false doctrines that took firm grip on the church in later years. His teaching was a bizarre combination of Word Faith, Manifest Sons of God, and Serpent Seed, all rolled into one. He denied basic Christian doctrine such as the Trinity.
Branham explained, “…not one place in the Bible is trinity ever mentioned…It’s Catholic error and you Protestants bow to it” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, Q and A, p. 182).
See http://letusreason.org/Latrain4.htm for a complete discussion of the errors of William Branham.
Dr. Sklar’s Defense of the failed “Preparation of the Bride” Prophecy
Years later, Dr. Sklar issued the following statement concerning the complete and abject failure of the 2005 prophecy:
http://www.mauricesklar.com/Teachings/Coming_Shakings_/coming_shakings_.html
Well, much to my surprise, it went all around the world. Many thousands of intercessors began to pray, and I am now convinced that God held these calamities back in His mercy so that we would have more time to get the Gospel out to the nations (especially here in America!).
Here he invokes the “repentance clause” we came across above. These internet prophets convince us it wasn’t their failure, it was God changing His mind. According to this logic, there are no failed prophecies, just a whole lot of cases where God withholds the judgment spoken of. And even more amazingly, Christians who should be exercising more discernment just accept it.
Then he pauses, to add that he “could have just missed it”, only to quickly revert back to :
I am now more and more convinced that I really DID have a genuine visitation from the Holy Spirit and God’s mercy did indeed intervene and held these calamities back, praise His Holy Name
Is he talking about a message from God here or is this a debate he is having in his own mind about whether it was God speaking? If you are not crystal clear on whether it is God speaking or not, you are not getting revelation from God. The word of God is never ambiguous. The Lord will never experience problems making things clear to us. Obviously, prophecy was never intended to be a “hit or miss”proposition.
This is so typical of the modern day internet prophets. They think its OK if they “win a few, lose a few.” Even if they “win” none, and “lose” them all, its all good to them. It shows you how they bring a “game” mentality to something as deadly serious as revelation from the Lord Almighty. It all sells, it all attracts popularity and attention to their ministries, which is what its all about for them.
Evaluation of the 2005 “Preparation of the Bride” prophecy.
In the final analysis, for the 2005 “Preparation of the Bride” prophecy of Maurice Sklar to be considered seriously as a genuine word from the Lord, so much of our Biblical understanding of the Lord and His ways would have to be suspended or done away with altogether. It is impossible to draw any other conclusion than that the words are from a human mind, and represented as words from God.
Maurice Sklar sees nothing wrong in piggybacking on a prophecy by Benny Hinn which has failed for 23 consecutive years, and hardwiring it into a mishmash of failed utterances in 2005, only to see it fail for another 7 straight years. He pridefully puts the name of God on all this, and without even a moment’s hesitation, continues to issue prophetic utterances today.
This is actually a very sad story of a man, who in every other way appears to be a very decent, likable, and well-meaning individual. He has for some unknown reason decided to elevate himself to an office of spokesman for God without God’s calling to do so. He is forsaking all of the numerous biblical warnings against doing this, as if he believes he has received some special permission to bypass God’s written instructions. What is the result? The false glorification and uplifting of his own ego in terms of his person, his ministry, and his career, through counterfeiting the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Could the Bible be any clearer about how seriously this grieves the Lord?
And what harm does this do when people falsely speak for God? The New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, speak clearly about the danger of false prophecy. When people in the church become focused on what a false prophet is claiming God said, they are diverted from the real truth contained in the Bible.
I recall last year when many of the false prophets of the internet spun tales about how comet Elenin was going to be a spectacular, monumental event with great significance for all Christians. Many thousands of believers were totally enraptured for months, caught up in discussions, forum posts, tweets, and blogs with daily updates of the progress of this comet. How much could have been done to further the commission of spreading the Gospel if the same number of man-hours of effort had instead gone into evangelization and bringing Christ to the lost, or simply soaking in the glory of God’s word?
All these internet seers, watchmen, prophets, or whatever they insist on being called, are charming, and tell an interesting tale. They are personable, and know how to keep their audiences interested. But whatever takes our focus off of Christ and puts it onto the things of the world and the things of men, is of the darkness. Remember that scripture tells us that the spirit of darkness comes dressed as an angel of light. It is our job as ambassadors of Christ to have the discernment to know when Satan is using someone to deceive us and take us away from the light of the world that is Jesus Christ.
The word of God Almighty is the most precious thing imaginable. It is worth more than all our gold and every material thing. We in the body of Christ should not allow it to be trampled on and belittled. We wouldn’t allow anyone to edit or change our Bible. Why should this kind of brazen misrepresentation of God’s revelation to us be excused?
All blessings in Christ,
JD Ellis
Endtime Delusion - 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 
Wow. I am completely stunned by some of the assertions you make. You feel the word inerrancy should not be applied to describe scripture? You believe Jonah was a false prophet? You completely deny the structure of that prophecy which clearly reveals it to be a conditional prophecy, that UNLESS Nineveh repented, the city would be destroyed in 40 days? If you deny this, you are saying that God sent Jonah to Nineveh to lie to the citizens in his Holy name, or you are denying the authenticity of the book of Jonah as a divinely inspired book. Did Nineveh repent? Of course it did, but you want to overlook that fact, and you want to portray God’s temperance in light of great repentance to be an example of false prophecy, which is yet again a cheap attempt on your part at having everyone believe that either God’s prophets were failures, or that his Holy written word is not to be trusted. By portraying the prophecy as being failed, this fits nicely into your overall agenda to belittle the authority of the bible.
I’ve heard this nonsense about Jonah being a false prophet before, and usually you find it on the more sleazy pseudo-Christian websites and forums, but this is the first time I’ve heard an actual PASTOR forward this absurdity. It really takes some doing on your part to overlook the fact that the prophecy concerning Nineveh was implicitly conditional. The king took it to be conditional, ordering immediate fasting and repentance, right down to the animals in the fields wearing sackcloth. Why do you suppose he would do that? Your attempt to portray Jonah as a false prophet is ridiculous. The whole story revolves around Jonah’s anger at The Lords goodness and mercy in forgiving a nation which didn’t deserve to be forgiven… and God’s glorification in the repentance of that unworthy nation. The whole reason Jonah didn’t go to Nineveh at first is because he feared God would relent if the people repented!! The book of Jonah is not a story of a “failed” prophecy. You continue to amaze me sir, but not in a positive manner.
In fact, sir, the truth is God himself tells us clearly the conditions of every prophecy, unless otherwise clearly stated to be explicit and irrevocable:
Jonah 3:10
None of the examples you give demonstrate any failure of any biblical prophecy at all. And you accuse me of reading things that are not there into scripture?? The one about God telling Abraham that his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars” – while you admit it was hyperbole, you stick it in here as part of setting the stage for defending the inaccuracy of modern day prophecy. Of course, if you can demonstrate God’s prophets of old were inaccurate, then you can subtly extend this to be a blanket excuse for why modern day prophets are inaccurate. So it seems in your view that all prophets through the ages, from biblical times to the present, have been unreliable. Then why, please tell us, would God use prophecy at all for the purpose of revelation to his people? To tease us? To make us guess which prophecies are true and which are false? gee, you really have a dim and diminished view of God’s power if you think he is incapable of appointing messengers and successfully delivering messages to them. What a failure you make out God to be!!
You don’t even understand the basic nature of prophecy. If you had a better understanding of what prophecy is, you would understand that prophecy cannot and will not “fail.” Could God “fail” to accomplish something he set out to do? You stated: What do you suppose was the purpose of “The School of the Prophets” in the OT, (1 Sam. 10:5-6; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:3, 15; 9:1-3) if not to teach them how to give prophecy more accurately? It was a learning process……..I once tried my skills in prophesying”.
It is not a “skill” as you paint it. There is in fact no skill at all in prophecy. The “Schools of the Prophets” were communities of prophets who congregated together, sometimes following an elder prophet as their leader, but there is no biblical indication whatsoever that prophecy was a skill which could be taught to anyone. This quote from “biblestudytools.com” describes briefly what the schools were engaged in:
The “sons” or “disciples” of the prophets were young men ( 2 Kings 5:22 ; 2 Kings 9:1 2 Kings 9:4 ) who lived together at these different “schools” ( 4:38-41 ). These young men were taught not only the rudiments of secular knowledge, but they were brought up to exercise the office of prophet, “to preach pure morality and the heart-felt worship of Jehovah, and to act along and co-ordinately with the priesthood and monarchy in guiding the state aright and checking all attempts at illegality and tyranny.”
While there may have been some method of passing a prophetic gift or anointing from a father or teacher to a student or son in the closed prophetic communities, I sincerely doubt it involved cultivating a skill set. If the act of receiving a prophetic message from God involves the practical application of learned techniques and book study, we should have a very clear record today of how to bring forth or manifest a prophecy. What are the techniques? Surely a book on real workable techniques that would produce genuine revelation from God would be the hottest bestsellers not only at the Christian bookstores but would be runaway bestsellers on the New York Times bestseller list. Why do these so-called “techniques” linger in obscurity? Because they don’t exist, and the ones that purport to be genuine are fakes.
You said you “tried” to prophesy once. That’s bizarre. How does one go about “trying” to prophesy? There are actually books written by Christians that propose to teach prophetic techniques, but they are nothing but New Age metaphysical nonsense, full of tips such as “make your mind go blank; breathe deeply, let the thoughts flow” etc., much like the books which purport to teach verbal and mental techniques for learning how to speak in tongues. None of these “techniques” have even the slightest effect of generating prophetic messages from God.
Your experience with prophecy should have served as warning to you to forego any further involvement with it. Except for the fortuitous event of the letter not being opened by the person who later died after you pronounced their recovery in the letter you presented as “prophetic revelation”, you would have severely victimized and traumatized the victim and her family. All in the name of God, while trying to play around at the gift of prophecy. Nothing good comes from taking the word of God lightly. It is foremost of the ten commandments that we shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Never open your mouth to say “thus sayeth the Lord.” It is more dangerous than playing Russian Roulette. These are the kinds of things I think we will all have to account for before the great day of judgment. Why did we desecrate the holiness of God’s word and drag it in the mud like that? Of all the sins I have committed, I do repent, but I am able to say that I will never have to repent for claiming to speak for the Lord God Almighty.
True prophets of God were chosen by God himself, not those who acquired the skill through diligent study. In fact there were many more schools of false prophets than there were of true prophets. You could study all you wanted, but if God didn’t choose you, you were not a prophet. Prophecy is God speaking word for word, and the prophets simply mouthing the words given by inspiration from the Lord. There is no further human involvement than simply mouthing the words. I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this absurd proposition you make that prophecy is a skill that can be learned!
YOU STATE:
….”Although God’s utterances are always perfect, they are transmitted through imperfect messengers to less than perfect people who have imperfect understandings.”
So here again, you imply that God simply does not have the power to find a way to deliver a one hundred percent accurate prophetic message to one of his creatures. You posit that man is so fallen, so imperfect, that it puts God in a dilemma of not being able to “reach” him and get the message “delivered”. Although some human creatures seem to be as dull as donkeys, I am quite sure that the same God who delivered a clear and accurate message to a donkey would be able to deliver a clear and accurate message to even the dullest man.
YOU STATED CONCERNING MICHAEL BOLDEA THE FOLLOWING:
Seriously? You fear God so you won’t speak lightly of Michael Boldea, but you clearly think nothing of trashing the authority and integrity and value of his Holy Word contained in scripture? That doesn’t shame you? And you are a pastor? Amazing. Simply amazing. Dear sir, I fear that you will find God at judgment day to be far less forgiving to attacks on his own word in the Holy Bible than he will be to one who slights Michael Boldea’s word. And I suggest to you there is every reason to believe the shepherds of the flocks are going to be held to a very much higher standard than others. To whom much is given, much is expected. I think this is a very reckless path you have chosen, and I am compelled to strongly urge you to stop your slander of God’s word.
You think that the manuscripts which resulted in our having the 66 books today are completely unreliable? You assert that the prophets of the bible were wrong so often as to be completely unreliable sources, but you think the dreams and visions of men today like Michael Boldea are to be counted on by Christians today and accepted as true revelation from God? You assert Jonah could not be relied on to deliver a true prophecy, but Michael Boldea CAN?????? You assert that God can easily give revelation to prophets of the internet today, but deny that he had the power to preserve his Holy word through the ages? That was too “tough” for him to keep his written word intact until today? Yep, keeping all those various manuscripts intact, that was just too difficult for God, wasn’t it?
YOU STATED:
…”
……..”NT believers had the OT Scriptures which they frequently quoted. But they did not interpret these as having closed the door forever on more revelation or on the ministry of prophets. If they had, we would not have much of the New Testament today….”
What????? The NT believers didn’t close the door on more revelation? Of course not, why would they? Scripture in the apostolic age was still in the process of being written! You make no sense whatsoever.
You go on to reason that since God is by nature immutable and unchangeable, then he must repeat any actions he previously took or else it betrays a “changing nature.” What a small box you put God in by denying him the right to do things only once! He created once, but by your reckoning, he is obligated to continue creating or else betray a “changing” nature. This is so absurd I’m not even sure if you’re just pulling my leg here, and its some kind of early April Fools Day joke. So God, even exercising all of his divine sovereignty, cannot under any circumstances stop doing things he formerly did. Wow, this is quite the education in God I’m getting here. If he chose to use prophets in the past, he is under OBLIGATION to continue doing so? In your view, God has painted himself into a corner by arbitrarily giving up the right to cease doing something he formerly did. He used a donkey to speak to someone in the past, so he is OBLIGATED to use donkeys today! He decided to flood the earth once, and said he never would do it again, but that runs against the grain of your argument of his obligation to continue all previous actions, so you don’t mention that!
And what’s with the quibbling over authorship of the Pentateuch? Yes, the authorship might be shared. So what? Why do you make a point of this? Are you questioning its divine origin? There is no question among serious Christian scholars that this is divinely inspired scripture, despite your attempts to drag its authority into the mud. Moses was highly educated in the court of the Pharaoh of Egypt with access to all of the beneifts of the realm, and I have no problem believing he had the ability and means to write scripture. Archeology has uncovered evidence of very sophisticated writing implements at this time.
You stated the following: ….”
……”Furthermore, the reason the Book of Revelation is found at the end of the Bible is because it was one of the last books to be accepted. “It was not found in the Peshitta (the commonly accepted Bible) during the first five centuries” (Dictionary of the Bible, by John Davis)……”
No Pastor Carlson, that is untrue. The book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible because it was the last book written by John, the last living Apostle, written near the close of the first century, and thus was the last divinely inspired book to be written. Who was around after the death of John that you think was a divinely inspired author of scripture? It is the last book of the Canon, and the last verses of Chapter 22 are indeed a warning against changing by addition or subtraction anything in the Holy Scriptures. The fact that a similar warning appears twice in the O.T. does NOTHING to lessen the urgency of the warning. You just like to think God had no control over which books would be included so he inspired the writing of many books, and he allowed to be included many books which were not inspired. How convenient! So I guess that leaves pastors like you today free to decide for themselves which books to include and to revere as the genuine Word of God, and which books to snub.. Do you even care that God is warning you right there in Rev. 22 18:19 NOT to change his Holy Word?
YOU STATED THE FOLLOWING:
……….”Besides, today’s canon does not include some books endorsed and recommended by authors of the Bible. Here’s a partial list: Books by prophets such as Gad, Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo, Shemaiah, Jehu, Jasher, and Enoch (1 Chr. 29:29; 2 Chr. 9:29; 12:15; 20:34; Joshua 10:13, 2 Sam. 1:18; Jude 14).
Paul also speaks of a letter he wrote (to the Laodiceans – Col 4:16). These are historical facts, not opinions.”………
This is completely untrue. Of your list of books, none were “recommended” or “endorsed” by authors of the Bible. They were mentioned by authors. Do you equate a mention to be the same as an endorsement? As your friend from goquestions.org Michael Houdmann explained in the quotation I included in the previous answer I wrote to you, quote:
I’m sorry, but simply to be a work that is “mentioned” in the bible does not amount to an endorsement, nor does every work mentioned in the scriptures have divine authorship.
Yes, Pastor Dan, why don’t we all just assemble a new Bible, and include all of our favorite books, and toss out all those we don’t feel any particular affinity for? We could each assemble our own bibles, and have fun trading books and chapters back and forth like school kids trading bubble gum cards. Wouldn’t that be fun?
You stated the following
:…..”One objection to an “open” canon is: “It would cause confusion and divisiveness.” How much more than we already have?”……….
Yes, much more than we already have! There would be such an increase in the amount of confusion and divisiveness in the church that it would boggle the mind if anyone who thought they had a prophetic calling was allowed to add to the official Canon of the Christian church. Yes, I think the amount of confusion we have today would pale in comparison to the chaos that would reign if the Canon was still open. How would you suggest we decide whose prophecies are divinely inspired and whose prophetic dreams are simply the result of someone being motivated to get their name in the news? Or those “prophetic dreams” that are simply the result of someone going to bed with an upset stomach? Or impulsive feelings and urgings caused by stress or lack of sleep?
And as to the matter of the book of Enoch. You claim affinity with this book because Enoch is one of your favorite biblical characters. But it doesn’t bother you that even your friend Michael Houdmann affirms that “It is interesting to note that no scholars believe the Book of Enoch to have truly been written by the Enoch in the Bible.” Yet you don’t miss a beat in casting a cloud of suspicion over the entire book of Hebrews by stating that your “NIV Amplified version” states a whole slew of possible authors. I’m sorry, I find the book of Hebrews to be one of the most interesting and vitally important books of the entire Bible, and I’m not ready to toss it out for what your “amplified” version says. Do you even know what “amplified version” means? Its jargon meant to disguise the fact that it represents entirely non-scholarly and unprofessional translational and interpretational twists to the text.
YOU STATED THE FOLLOWING: …….”It also depends on your understanding of the words “canon” and “Bible.” The pertinent definition of “canon” is “a list of the books of the Holy Scriptures officially accepted by a church as genuine.” And what “church” primarily selected the books which would be included? Mainly the Church of Rome, but with further input by Luther’s Reformation and the Church of England. Even when the KJV first came out in 1611, there were 80 books in the Bible, not just 66. (I have a photographic copy of it in my library.) So the “canon” has been in a state of flux over the centuries. The origin of the word “Bible” is from Greek biblia, meaning a little book, and “the sacred book of Christianity; the Old Testament and New Testament; the Roman Catholic (Douay) Bible also includes the Apocrypha.”….
This is just very poorly researched on your part, to come up with this assertion. The main bulk of the books we have today were known to be, and accepted as, divinely inspired before the fifth century. The four gospels, as well as many of the other books were completely accepted by the second century. I beg you to read Michael Kruger’s books on Canon, because you are passing on embarrassingly misinformed information if you are teaching anyone your version of the history of the Canon. The Reformation had nothing at all to do with deciding which books were included in the Canon. I don’t care about this manuscript you state you have. I’m quite sure you have something that indicates 80 books, but it is not proof or even a slight indication that the church of Jesus Christ as late as the sixteenth century was considering including 80 books in the Canon. This is complete nonsense. I repeat: I can state categorically that the Reformation played no role whatsoever in deciding which books were included in the Canon, and furthermore all the 66 books of the Canon were firmly decided many centuries before the Reformation took place. You are way off here.
YOU STATED THE FOLLOWING:
……”There are also an abundance of false pastors, teachers, and evangelists! Should we do away with those ministries too? All these ministries were given to the church for a purpose:
And He Himself [Jesus, Head of the Church] gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers [and He hasn’t stopped giving them], for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ [we still have a long ways to go]… But, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ… for the edifying of it-self in love [we need these Christ-given ministries to grow up!] (Eph. 4:11-16 Selected)……”
Do away with them? What do you mean? Kill them? No. Renounce, rebuke, and condemn them openly with a loud voice to all who will listen? Absolutely!
I will pray for you, but my most earnest prayers go out to the people who sit under your teaching, that they will not be led astray and off of the word of God and onto the myths and fables of dreams and visions of men. You will be held accountable for every soul you turn against God’s word. It is one thing for a person to write a blog which errs, but it is in an entirely different category to be a shepherd of men’s souls and lead them astray with falsehood and denigration of the authority of scripture.
Amazed and flabbergasted that a Christian preacher can hold these beliefs, and worse, teach them to others. I’ve seen atheists show more respect for the word of God than you. This is really shameful. As to the people over at gotquesions.org, I am very familiar with their writings, and I would be extremely surprised to learn that they have endorsed any of your beliefs, since their teaching follows very much along the lines of my own beliefs. It must have been some other doctrinal point very different than the ones you are making here if they gave you any kind of thumbs up for your writing.
I am thinking now that my next article will be on fallen pastors, and how the end times actually signal a marked increase in the deadly falling away of even those who outwardly seem to be so secure in their knowledge and respect for the Lord, even those with positions in the church. And you have given me much food for thought and inspiration to this end. God surely arranged this meeting of minds.
God left us a book because he knew our hearts are inherently wicked, and we would strive after human experiences as our shining light, instead of the gospel. In 2 Peter Chap. 1 Peter and the other 2 apostles affirmed the written word to be the true reliable source of God’s revelation when they were on the mountain and witnessed the Transfiguration. They had just heard the actual voice of God himself, and still affirmed the written word to be a “more sure” word.
…..we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son,[i] with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit……..
Can you say the same thing today, Pastor Carlson? Can you humble yourself to the point where you will exhalt God’s written word over your experiences, and over the experiences of others that you know? Or will you bind yourself forever, and bind those sitting under your teaching for eternity, to the grim and rotten teaching that human experience is the reliable font of revelation from God? On that terrible day, many, many shepherds of the flock will ask this question:
‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
and they will hear those frightful words:
“Depart from me. I never knew you.”
I truly hope you repent soon, brother. Each new day on earth could be the last chance we have to do so.
JD Ellis
You are always right. Are you not? willing to take anyone on, all the while being quite disrespectful… my word to you. Spend more time with the Lord, in silence, waiting and listening.much more time. and less time seeking to tear others down. You are a self appointed ‘ watchdog of the kingdom’. but perhaps you are, in your concerns more destructive than you would have hoped, out of deep concern, of course. spend your time telling others about the work of the Cross, and the world will be better for it, I don’t even need scriptures to quote here. smiley face. Shalom.
We are all “watchdogs of the Kingdom” . Some of us don’t know or don’t care that a teacher shouldn’t exalt himself and his ‘loving deeds’ and claim Christ ” honored” him in heaven. You and many others will blissfully try to enter thru the wide gate.
JD Ellis
I do believe what the Bible teaches us about false prophets deceiving us in the last days. Iwould like to know form you, JD Ellis, how do you know he is a false prophet, what is your designation?
Regards
Noelene
Any one who claims “God sent me on a visit to heaven, so that he could conduct a symphony in my honor” is not only a false teacher, but not even Christian. No Christian teaching comes even close to saying that our destiny in heaven is to be “honored by God.” It shows a rejection of fundamental Christian beliefs. We do the honoring of God, not the other way around.
Another hint that he is a false prophet is the literally dozens of “prophetic” messages he claims to have received from God which have completely fallen flat and were total failures. The biblical standard is “one false prophecy, and you are killed”, so that you would not be given a second chance to repeat your error. Maurice thinks that his readers have a bad memory, and forget all the failures.
Bless you,
JD Ellis
Never knew you existed until stumbled onto this blog. Many years ago I was influenced by the “prophet” William Branham since fully exposed. We found the same inconsistencies in “Billy” as we have in the “prophets” you have cited. The appetite for “prophets” in today’s spiritual market is amazing and a thriving business. Ignorance and denial of Scripture is at epic proportions today. The fact that these prophets often fail seems to be no impediment to those who flock to their banner. Apostasy and gross ignorance is with us to the very end. Continue the good work.
I appreciate that someone goes and takes the time to discuss these prophets coming out with their false visions and dreams. I spent some time on a site trying to voice my opinion on these matters and it gets deleted all the time. Obviously if they don’t feel truly convicted of their beliefs they wouldn’t mind a little debate. God is the master. He knows all things. For us to go around and tell about these dreams and prophesies to me is like telling God what He must do and when He must do it. Only someone with no knowledge of God’s might would ever declare that.
Hi Matt. Thanks for your comment. I agree totally. And yes, our opinions will get deleted by the ones who want to keep this whole false prophecy bandwagon rolling. It provides a steady income for hundreds of people who should be out there obeying Christ’s commission to disciple all nations, instead of hammering away at a keyboard about what God supposedly “told them.”
Blessings in Christ,
JD Ellis
Dear JD,
You think that Maurice Sklar strikes the mother lode in false prophecy? You’ll have a heyday with my “heretical” teachings on overcoming death! I’m all geared up to jump into the ring and engage in a wrestling match with you. To lay the groundwork, I’m attaching a file which is Section One of “Is the Physical Death of a Believer Inevitable?”
I appreciate your zeal in defending what you perceive to be the truth. Without getting nasty or punching below the belt, let’s have at it! Respectfully, Dan Carlson
On Fri, Jul 3, 2015 at 12:57 PM, Endtime Delusion – 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11
Hi Daniel. Its been awhile. Hope all is well.
Yes, I’d welcome a challenge like this. I am very firm in my beliefs that someone who says “thus saith the Lord” and then relates a word with a specific date and the event doesn’t come to pass, then that person is a false prophet. Otherwise, we’ll have to ask God to rewrite Deuteronomy and Jeremiah for us to accomodate your new definition of “false” prophecy!!!!
I think to attach a file you need to send it through conventional email, it won’t work going through this “comments” page on my WordPress blog. My blog email address is: endtimedelusion@gmail.com Looking forward to it!
Blessings,
JD
Thanks John. Many years ago I too was briefly attracted to teachings of men like William Branham. Looking back now I see how deceived I was in the early stages of my walk with the Lord. But we must walk before we can run. It is all a learning process. If we earnestly desire to do the will of God he will lead us away from danger and put our feet on the right path.
I am so against this modern-day prophetic movement. People just don’t want to accept that Jesus was the final revelation until the end of time. People have big egos, and need to feed these egos with the idea that if we just follow certain men, we can learn what the future holds. It is really wicked and evil.
Blessings,
JD Ellis
False prophets were those that when they said things it HAPPEN allot of times. They were false because they said it was GOD saying it to them…yet it was not.
So just because we dont agree on some teachings, some dream, vision so forth we dont just cut them off and post nevitive things about them and toss them under a buss so to speak.
You forget WHY and WHO died for us ALL! You right now are not more holy sinless then any preacher you talked about.
So if you find some one that says JESUS came in the flesh died on the cross was buried rose the 3rd day is the only way to the Father and might be could be in error or falling or fell.. HELP THEM! Dont be like the world and only see faults we all have them we are STILL flesh. Treat them how JESUS treats you. No matter how bad or good you are He never ever talks to any of us about you. Help them pray for them be a servant to them. Show them mercy grace forgiveness then watch how GOD treats you.