It is certainly true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The ones in the Christian church who have contributed the most to the area of false prophecy and leading the children of God astray in the past couple of decades are the ones who continue today to be the Pied Pipers of falsehood, profanely issued in the holy name of our Lord. So it was not surprising when someone pointed out a new “prophecy” had been issued by prolific false prophet Dr. Maurice Sklar. And it just seemed to fall into place that the main showcase for his issue of this would be Rick Wiles’ Trunews radio program, which has been for almost 15 years now a source of some of the most outlandish and self-serving blather ever to be labeled “Christian.”
I will go through some of this one hour interview from the March 18th 2014 Trunews broadcast, as it provides a unique opportunity to highlight the deep errors of both men and how profound is the damage they do to the Christian faith. How deeply both these men offend and profane the Lord Jesus Christ, and bring a torrent of disrespect down upon Christians everywhere. Here we will examine lie after lie, heaped upon self-exaltation after self-exaltation, with the end result being the glorification of no one but these two men themselves.
Maurice Sklar Interview – Trunews radio March 18th 2014
Interview of Maurice Sklar :
http://www.trunews.com/Audio/3_18_14_tuesday_trunews2.mp3
I will keep a timeline for reference to the interview in the commentary.
0.00 – 2:22 Mr. Wiles retells the story of how his ministry was “birthed” by a calling from the Holy Spirit in a vision while working for TBN Christian network. Now it is a topic in itself how TBN has conducted itself since its inception by the late Dr. Paul Crouch, but it is sufficient for these purposes to realize TBN has been the source of some of the most profane false prophets the church has ever seen. Their star program, with by far the highest viewership, is This Is Your Day with Benny Hinn. Anyone who doesn’t see a huge red flag here need not continue with this commentary as it will be a waste of your time.
2:39 – 3:00 The self-exaltation of the false teacher often comes out early in his message, and this is no exception. After boasting of his own spiritual experience at TBN, he boasts about one his daughter had. “That same night, my daughter was visited by Jesus Christ. She said it wasn’t a dream.” So if it wasn’t a dream, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in the flesh at her bedside? (please note: this is not about whether these things occurred or not, it is about whether a true man of God would be boasting about them, or even speaking about them in any manner.) The Lord revealed to her he would speak to her about the last days in dreams and visions. Her mission, and that of her father, would be to warn the body of Christ of the dire consequences coming to America if the country did not repent.
3:45 “Early September 1998 I walked out the door of TBN……this radio program was birthed on one station in Dallas………I’ve been on radio ever since, retelling the story”. Lets examine what Mr. Wiles was actually telling us at this time of the birth of his new radio show with its calling “to reveal the word of God in warning the nation to repentance.”
While I don’t know of the existence of any actual recordings of his early shows, I think we can be sure of what his main topic was in the first 12 to 15 months of the show: the Y2K “doomsday event” that was going to shut down computers worldwide and cause a “global economic and technological meltdown.”
His book “Judgment Day 2000 – How the Coming Computer Crash Will Radically Change Your Life” was released in 1998. You can still sometimes find it on Amazon, and it provides a great glimpse into the mind of one of the most popular false prophets of our times. It demonstrates how showmanship, not the truth, has always been the guiding light behind this man and the key to his popularity. Not much time needs to be wasted on this book, but suffice it to say that at 323 pages, it is one of the most elaborately detailed false prophecies of all recorded history.
Some chapters in his 1998 book speak of conspiracy theories he still today brings up on the radio show. The invasion of Russian Spetznatz commandos, the solar tornadoes, meteor storms, embedded microchips, Russian nukes, health care crisis, financial collapse, its all just the same stuff being recycled 15 years later in the hope no one notices.
It is important to see this, because armed with this knowledge of how his ministry came to be, one can be prepared to see the pattern and recognize it today. Then perhaps we can all decide for ourselves if this is a man who gets his information from God or from some other source.
6:50 – start of interview with Dr. Sklar (Wiles fittingly begins with what has become mandatory in the repertoire of the false prophet today, the tedious reference to Joel Chapter 2 v. 28-32 and its “old men will dream dreams, and young men will see visions” as a proof text for modern day prophets. It is nothing of the sort, and as Peter himself explained in his famous sermon, this was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost itself, saying “this is that” which was uttered through the prophet Joel. Acts 2:16-21.)
8:00 (Sklar begins by stating that he doesn’t have many prophetic dreams. When the Lord speaks to him it is in the form of visions or words. (Of course, Dr. Sklar, we must not think of anything from you as a mere “dream.” We need to clothe this in much finer linen than that. We need to use language that conveys “flashy reality” and the word “dreams” doesn’t elevate your experience in quite the way you intend to elevate it, Dr. Sklar.)
Sklar begins to read his vision:
. ………This week I had a dream. It was a terribly frightening dream. In it, I saw a huge angel standing suspended in the air over New York harbor. It looked so large that it covered the night sky. His body was clad in golden armor as if he was going to war. His face and entire being were so bright that I could not gaze up at him for long. White beams of light seemed to radiate outward from him in all directions. He was standing over the Statue of Liberty. It was night, but I could hardly see the lights around him coming from New York City as he blazed so brightly with divine light……
Really? We’re going to down this tired road again about the Statue of Liberty destruction vision that started in 1954 with A.A. Allen’s false vision of Liberty destroyed? This has been copied almost word for word by everyone in the false prophecy club for many years, including self-professed “watchman” Nathan Leal. Anyone familiar with Leal will instantly recognize this is a copy of his “staggering” Statue of Liberty vision, and that both are clearly copies of Allen’s vision.
None of this is to suggest that the Statue of Liberty will never be destroyed. Or that if its destruction eventually occurs, that these prophets will be vindicated. Its about the ministry of Christian preachers, and whether the commission to preach Christ has been overruled and changed in today’s church to permit a gospel of self to be taught.
Nathan’s drunken Statue of Liberty vision is below: *** http://watchmanscry.com/prophecy_liberty_drunk.html
A variation on this theme where Liberty is decapitated is related by Leal here: http://watchmanscry.com/article_liberty.html
Readers can view A.A.Allen’s original 1954 prophecy here: http://www.miraclevalley.net/gpage6.html and decide whether they think that Allen’s descendants should be sent all royalties and profits gained by Maurice Sklar and Nathan Leal copying his “vision.”
Oh, but the defender of the false prophets will rush in now to declare “That’s because God’s anointed are all being shown the same thing by the Lord.” No. Its because evil minds bent on removing the church from gospel truth think alike.
Readers can see the full Maurice Sklar dream, prophecy, vision, whatever you want to call it, here: http://lit4ever.org/revivalforum/index.php?topic=29448.0
There is virtually nothing new here. basically a new twist, with not only the Statue of Liberty getting whacked, but some novel twists added for color and to gain attention and personal exaltation: instead of the nerve gas enveloping the nation as Allen saw, Sklar posits that “giant rocket missiles” will deliver nuclear explosions. But of course, not before the mandatory earthquake that literally splits the continent in two.
Well, how can you have a more colorful prophetic vision than one with nuclear explosions happening at the same time as a giant earthquake! Guaranteed to draw attention and glory. But as we will see from the teachings of the apostle Paul, the attention and glory wanted by the author is attention to himself and glory to his ministry, not the Lord Jesus Christ or the gospel.
No dates are set in Sklar’s prophecy, nor any prophecies being released today. As we have said often here, no dates will used by false prophets anymore. They too learn from their mistakes. Undated means impossible to prove false.
We have already seen in the past how Dr. Sklar has explained why his previous dated prophetic visions didn’t come to pass: because enough people prayed and God stayed his hand of judgment against the nation. So that will once again be what we hear from Dr. Sklar in future, when none of this new word comes to pass. Along with the fact that no date was placed on this new word, it gives Sklar two insurance policies against ever having to own up to his deceit. And worse, to continue down this terrible course he has chosen of defaming the Lord.
49:10 Dr. Sklar again plays on a source of great pride to him that often comes up in his interviews and published works: the claim that some years ago he was lifted up to heaven. Golly, how we lesser mortals must gush and lift up Maurice because he is such a spiritually advanced man that these lofty experiences are reserved for him and other great Christians like Rick Wiles. We can only sigh in admiration of these outstanding spiritual achievements.
A.A. Allen’s “prophetic” vision has now celebrated its 60th anniversary this year without fulfillment.
Since Sklar’s prophecy is just a variation on previous false prophecies given by his ministry, Leal’s ministry, A.A. Allen’s ministry, and countless others, I’ll leave it to the reader to decide how much time to spend on the details, but in summary we heard in the interview about 50 minutes of nothing but experiences of these two men. Wiles with the lofty experiences of him and his family members, and Sklar with his high definition visions and his luxury-class trip to heaven. The focus was entirely on spiritual experiences and how God has lifted them up to lofty positions in his church, and how they are “humbly” carrying out their Godly assignments and missions.
About 5 to 7 minutes is tacked on at the end where Sklar and Wiles both speak clearly about Christ, the cross, and the ACTUAL gospel. All in line with what deceivers do, as they come as angels of light, not wearing horns. Of course there will be some real gospel tacked on at the end.
I would like to spend some time unpacking some remarkable things Paul taught the church at Corinth. I think it speaks volumes about what we see with many of these false internet ministries today, and fits perfectly with this rather typical Wiles interview we are dealing with which was given on this so-called Christian radio show.
Paul To the Church At Corinth: “Beware of the Super-Apostles”
In 2 Corinth. Chap. 11 Paul puts out a very powerful word to the church about those who were coming to destroy the work done by Paul in planting the church there, and the work of the real apostles. These false apostles came in the name of Christ, and said all the right things to be believed, but their focus in a subtle way took Paul’s beloved congregation at Corinth away from the Lord and onto themselves.
I marvel at Paul’s use of biting sarcasm at many points in his letters to Corinth. He calls these false apostles “super apostles.” (2 Cor. 11:5, 2 Cor. 12:11)
These false apostles use their spiritual experiences, or at least their versions of these events, to boast and lift themselves up. These super apostles in the apostolic age would go into the church as soon as Paul left, and undo what truth had been laid down, and replace it with error. Nowhere more than at Corinth did this happen. There are many parallels to be seen between the church at Corinth and the modern day church’s lifting up of signs and wonders. As we will see clearly from Paul, this was not minor error that needed just a superficial adjustment, it was core error that was threatening to take the church away from Christ.
In 2 Cor. Chap. 11 verses. 7 to 15 Paul is outlining the contrast between the true apostles and the false apostles, who had come in claiming to be of Christ but who were not. The contrast Paul makes between the true and false apostles is to show that the true apostles were grounded in three things: truth, love, and humility. A true apostle will be humble to the point of being self-effacing. Just look at a teacher’s life. As John MacArthur points out:
Just look when you’re assessing whether someone is a true or a false teacher. Do you see humility or do you see pride? Do you see a person sacrificing his life to give away the truth with only regard for service to others? Or do you see one who is building an empire, building an estate, becoming rich, one who is parading his…his authority, one who is always right, one who demands that we bow before him, one who wants almost to be worshiped and adored? Those are the questions. *
When I read Paul’s letter to Corinth, and apply these standards here, I see clearly who is being lifted up by these men, and its not Christ. It is themselves. Please refer to my previous article on Maurice Sklar, where he describes his “visit to heaven” in revealing detail. Since he brought it up again, I guess it means he wants us to have another look at it. Some excerpts of his journey to heaven:
……….. we reached a flat plateau overlooking what looked like the Swiss or Bavarian Alps. It was covered with perfectly manicured grass. We were standing in front of a golden gate that had filigree work all over it. Over the top was my name: “Maury Sklar” engraved in that same kind of stone/glass/gold on a rectangular plate. It was covered with precious stones and shimmered and glittered in the late afternoon sun. I was in awe!……..
…………….To one side, there was a vault-like door, and in it were dozens of great stringed instruments. Some had been made for me, and one place was open, where the Lord had promised me that He would make a violin for me and I could watch, after I get there to heaven!…………..
……………..He seemed like a Man now, though I knew He was the LORD. He said to me, “Maury, I want you to see the Great Hall of the Crowns.” Suddenly, we were at a large castle of some sort. It looked like Buckingham Palace, Versailles, and the Taj Mahal all at the same time. (I know that sounds strange, but that is what it looked like to me.) I was stunned at the majesty of this building……………
……………..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! As he entered, the whole audience bowed in worship and reverenced His Presence. 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…………………….
The readers can safely decide for themselves who is being lifted up here. Is this not the same phenomenon Paul was dealing with in the church in Corinth and the invasion of the super apostles? The lifting up of one’s spiritual experiences, the exaltation of self, the boasting, all of these things are from the enemy Satan. These false teachers are not just misguided people with error in their doctrine, they are agents of the devil. Paul is saying that they are more than just gifted windbags, they are emissaries of Satan.
Paul didn’t pull any punches in speaking out about these types, because he knew how dangerous they are. When a man is full of himself, there is little room for the spirit of God to dwell in him.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. …..2 Cor. 11:13-15
Paul doesn’t care about being politically correct, and fears not to offend the sensibilities of those listening. Imagine the impact this had on those false teachers when his letters were read in the church. We need to emulate Paul, in that we need to take a stand against demonic influences taking hold in the church today. So many today recognize the error, but are so daunted by the possibility of being called a blasphemer of the Holy Spirit, they look the other way. The signs and wonder movement has made such inroads and gained so much territory and influence in the church in the past 100 years, that they are to an alarming extent able to control and prevent any serious opposition from forming against them and their movement.
If you speak out, realize that you will be called out as one who spreads disunity among the flock. You will be called a person with a “vendetta” against God’s anointed. Even those who normally have good discernment skills will say you are denying the “power” of the Holy Spirit. But lets use Paul as our guide in these matters: he refused to boast about his spiritual experiences, but instead happily boasted of his weaknesses.
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 2 Cor. 11:20
But Paul was very glad to speak of his weaknesses. He knew the folly of boasting of one’s deeds and experiences after seeing the resurrected Lord. He is free in telling all he is a former blasphemer, a persecutor, a murderer, an enemy of Jesus Christ. What Paul doesn’t want to do is boast about his credentials. And he could have easily done so. But instead, in verses 22 to 29, Paul tells of his hardships endured. Shipwrecks, lashings, hunger, thirst, cold, exposure, toil, hardship. Even being let down in a basket to escape Damascus. Paul is saying “I will boast of those things which show my weakness.”
Paul “Boasts”, So That Corinth Will See the Error of Boasting
I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. 3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— 4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— 6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. 2 Cor. Chapter 12 v.1-6
In further exhibition of his ability to use emphatic language that really “bites” and impacts the listener, here Paul is actually “boasting” in order to compare righteous boasting for the glory of God, to the destructive boasting of the false teachers about their spiritual experiences.
Of all the men there, Paul had the most reason to boast of his spiritual experiences. He had actually been lifted up to heaven. He amazingly describes this in the third person. Its only by verse 7 that we realize he is referring to himself and his experience! He refuses to give detail, not even saying if it was in body or spirit when he was lifted up! Contrast this to modern day accounts of “trips to heaven” and the intricate detail we are given by those who would exalt themselves in the telling of these things.
Another sharp contrast between Paul and what today’s false teachers do. Paul’s lifting up to heaven had occurred fourteen years before. Can a modern day “prophet” or “apostle” not even speak a word about an experience like this for fourteen years? And even then, Paul was very reluctantly speaking of it to hammer home a point to a church that was losing the gospel of Christ to the visions and signs.
On top of this is the fact that there is serious doubt about the truthfulness of modern stories of trips to heaven, but that’s another topic altogether. Paul simply closes the book on what must have been a truly wondrous event, by saying he heard things “which man must not utter”. (2 Cor. 12:5) No lifting up of self here, no prideful bragging about “look what God did for me.” Quite the opposite: ……. “we must not speak of such things. ”
………..if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.
Paul really had good reason to boast, and it would have been entirely truthful if he had done so, but he underlines the point that we are not to raise up our experiences high onto lofty places, lest no man then exalt the man and the experience. What a lesson for today’s false teachers. Then Paul in my view really makes an emphatic statement by telling that he would rather boast about the thorn sent to him:
v. 7-10 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Three times the great Apostle Paul prayed that God would remove the thorn, and God did not relent. What a blow to the gospel of “name it and claim it!” What a blow to the word faith healers like Benny Hinn! Who had more faith than Paul, who had seen the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus? The idea that God’s GRACE is sufficient really grinds in the ears of the false teachers.
The end result: Paul glorified God in taking the suffering as God’s way of preventing him from becoming boastful! Today’s false teachers do exactly the opposite: they use spiritual experiences in order that they may be exalted by their fellow church members! In this personal uplifting, church members are steered away from Jesus Christ, and onto doctrines of man.
The church at Corinth was so much like today’s church. Common distinguishing markers were infatuation with the spiritual gifts, and esteeming one another by the measure of each other’s spiritual experiences. Paul saw so much disorder at Corinth he had to implement rules about orderly conduct. (1 Cor. 14:33)
Paul had to step in and make rules to tame the unruly and unholy desire to make the gifts the center of the church. He ruled that only two, and at most three, should speak in tongues at a service. Only one could speak at a time. Another must always interpret what is spoken in a manner intelligible to the members. (1 Cor. 14:27-28)
How this rule is openly flaunted by churches today! Any church, and by extension, any internet ministry, that conducts itself in a chaotic manner is to be avoided. Jumping from one story line to another is one example of discord and confusion we see with many of the news/gospel programs on the air today. Fifty minutes of human experience mixed with 5 minutes of gospel, and a Christian label attached to it, is standard fare, and lapped up like milk by the followers, when it is actually spiritual poison. These are things that are sewn from the seeds of Satan’s attack on the modern day church, and as demonic influences they have made huge inroads and scored big successes.
Since the closing of the Canon of scripture, Satan has been focusing his schemes on ways to steer men away from the gospel, because only by doing so can he claim victory. Satan is totally comfortable with today’s Christian “visions and dreams” ministries. Satan wins every time he can steal an hour of a person’s time by having them listen to man-centered doctrine concerning trivia such as visions of earthquakes, tsunamis, suitcase nukes, nephilim, Obama’s communist leanings, or whatever the soup-de-jour of the Rick Wiles-Steve Quayle-Nathan Leal gang happens to be on any given day.
How powerfully Paul puts this to the church in Cor. 11 verses 3 and 4.
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Here Paul is talking about some men who had come into the church, supposedly possessing a higher authority, a higher pedigree, a higher experience. They were preaching another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit. Here we see Satan at work, leading the church away from her steadfast devotion to Christ. These were people who sounded like apostles, and seemed to say all the right things, but were actually leading people astray.
“And You Put Up With It Readily Enough”
And with his biting sarcasm, Paul drills home the point by saying “and you put up with it readily enough.”
So many today think that Pentecost and the early days of the church was a time where the “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit had caused such an emotional stir that it lent an air and attitude of wide openness and permissiveness in points of doctrine. That it was a time when “anything goes” and “just let the spirit lead you where it will” were the guiding affections. Quite the opposite was true. The doctrine of the church was set, in the person and work of Christ, as expounded by the apostles. Nowhere was it acceptable to adapt the Christian faith to go in any direction that the believer “felt led.”
The way the foundations of the church were laid down it was never intended to be a free-for-all where anyone who claimed to have the spirit could just say whatever he wanted to.
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2
But soon the “super apostles” led the church away from its foundational roots because of a fascination with gifts and personal power. The false apostles hated Paul because they hated the message he brought of humility and suffering for the gospel. “We’re a power Jesus” they cried. There was little place in this boasting, super Christian mentality for the suffering of the cross. They had this other gospel, this new way of relating to God, and a magnetic and alluring wonder-worker fervor had settled in through the satanic false teachers. And thus, they had little tolerance for Paul’s message of “strength in weakness,” thinking it foolishness.
In reading these remarkable verses, we see in Corinth they were already breaking away from the gospel of the cross, and setting up this new regime which was far from Christ-centered. It was man-centered and focused on the evaluation of each man in the church according to the perceived value of his spiritual gifts and experiences, and the elevation of each to that particular level of supposed spiritual attainment.
One commentator has put it this way: “Any Corinthian with a spark of humanity, not to say Christian conviction, left in him must have blushed to see held up before him the picture of himself in his conceited self-importance and the picture of Paul and his apostolic colleagues, the despised, scorned, suffering, but undaunted servants of Christ, the church, and mankind.”
Lest anyone be deceived by the false apostles, the deceitful workers, Paul points out the folly of following anyone but Christ:
for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 1 Cor. 3:3-4
For the foundation of faith cannot be laid on the shifting sands of human experiences, but must be laid upon the bedrock of the gospel of Jesus Christ, once for all delivered to the saints:
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 1 Cor. 3:12-13
Today we see the extreme evolution of these early church errors into a prideful signs, wonders, healing, and tongues mania which is responsible for turning more souls away from Christ and the Word of God than even Satan himself could have dreamed for. The showboats with the flashiest tales of signs and wonders still rule.
And as in Corinth, we put up with it readily enough.
All blessings in Christ,
JD Ellis
* John MacArthur – Grace To You Ministry…. “Marks of a False Apostle.”
Endtime Delusion - 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 
We do not need to fear prophesies. Look at the context of the message and question if the message gives glory to Jesus or not. False prophets will never glorify Jesus. I do believe in Maurice Sklar for I heard the voice of the Lord with my spirit. God did tell other prophets that when they intercede, He will delay judgment out of mercy. He would give them time to repent. Waiting another 10 years in hope for people to repent rather than losing souls for all eternity is aligned with a merciful Father. So yes, God sometimes delay judgment but it will come when we refused to redeem the time by repenting before Him and walk according to His will.
I did wish the Lord’s coming a few years back, but I also understand that more people have the opportunity to get saved. I was selfish then but understanding the horrors of hell, waiting with the Lord for others to return to Him is the very awesome experience. It helped me to understand His great love for humanity and make me so proud of Him. He is more interested in the salvation of humanity rather than proving Himself through His prophets. His prophets stand accountable to Him and not Him to His prophets.
Thank God for the delay for the world truly is not ready for His coming! If we are not sure if a message is from the Lord or not, bring it to God in prayer.
Sister in Christ,
Jene
Jene:
If you believe Masurice Sklar is a true prophet then you are deceived to the point of denying scripture itself. We only need to look to the biblical guidelines to know what are the hallmarks of a false prophet. One who says God told him something would occur, and that thing did not occur, is a false prophet. In many of his past prophecies he has given dates which did not come to pass, and only in fairly recent times has he resorted to putting a general disclaimer on his prophecies, that “God may withhold his judgment spoken of in the prophecy if enough people repent.”
Obviously this is meant as an escape clause to deny responsibility for any prophecies which fail. Anyone who thinks any significant amount of the population of the areas mentioned in the prophecies actually demonstrated true Nineveh-like repentance is under serious delusion. Many prophecies concerned supposed events in the U.S. Seriously, you observed the entire country demonstrate true repentance? I must have missed that.
I will pray for your deliverance from the fog which is clouding your discernment and opening you up to the very real danger of false prophets and false teachers.
Blessings,
JD Ellis
Found your blog and found some Great information “super apostle” great Bible truth! as I don’t lump all fundamentalist together don’t assume all charismatic are the same. many of us are very sincere and balanced and believe miracles and Holy Spirit operates today to reach a lost world, not build a mans kingdom. I agree most prophetic in church seems to allow ego and doom to rule over the Grace of the gospel and to demand weak minded people follow them and lead astray as your “super apostle” reference would indicate. Tru News does not have the right spirit and has agendas that is fear based. What is the fruit? Pandering to the latest new vision or doom message yet never focusing on the redemptive blood and lordship of Jesus. The early church expected Jesus return in their life, yet never made the end time message the focus. The made the cross and Jesus the focus. There is a danger in today’s church in that criticism by fundamentalists has a un balanced place, as prophetic has become to charismatics. Neither should have a focus beyond Bible teachings and central message of Christ crucified. The world depends on it ….
Has anyone done study on the return to legalism – “hebrew roots movement” Old Testament keeping. It is entertwined with “signs & wonders” pointing to 2016 date for second coming. There’s no influencing them out of their absolute belief – due to their accepting interpretations of people like Wiles. I’m so sadden – & sickened.
The Hebrew Roots movement is very insidious and evil, as it attempts to shackle us all under the law and in so doing, severely undermines the core teachings of Jesus. Are they really calling for the second coming in 2016? I’ll have to listen to that Sept. 10th show. Wow, talk about complete denial of scripture.
Thanks Naida.
JE
Thanks for your comments Jeff. You are quite right about how the cross and Jesus must always be the focus. Anything that draws our focus away is demonic. Over the years TruNews has been consistently at the forefront of internet ministries which draw people away from the true Christian walk and fill their heads with falsehood and nonsense.
Thanks for visiting the site and may God bless.
JD Ellis
Hi JD,
I’m glad to see you’re still doing your blog. I hope you’re doing well.
I still tune into TruNews for a different angle on the news than I find elsewhere, but over the last year or so I’ve become increasingly disturbed by what seems to be a growing audacity and pride in Rick Wiles’ monologues.
The primary reason I’ve been tuning in is because I’ve tuned out all the typical (corporate) sources of what’s going on in the world on a daily basis. Listening is taking the easy way out when I’m driving to and from work, but I believe I now better understand why you’re so passionate about the message of exposure and exhortation of sticking to God’s written Word.
I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your persistence in pointing to the Word, even though I may not always agree with making criticism personal by calling people out by name (I note that the apostle Paul was often careful to emphasize concerning behaviors and practices over naming names).
Thank you,
tsimitpo (“optimist” spelled backward to reward looking at things from atypical angles)
Hi tsimitpo. Good to hear from you again. While we have had some disagreement in doctrinal positions, I have always admired your earnest and honest seeking of God’s truth. I think you are one of the most level-headed and sincere commentors on this blog.
I do however urge you to take another look at some of the internet ministries you were following if you are still following them. You know the ones I am referring to, the ones who hold the newspaper in one hand and the bible in the other, and try to show that we must follow their broadcasts in order to know what God is doing and saying today. These are deceptive conmen who make their living by subverting the gospel of Jesus Christ into some kind of tabloid sensationalism.
As those given eternal life by the savior Jesus Christ, why would we even care if its Ebola, Obama, or a tsunami that kills us? Our mission, and our focus, should remain steadfast: to preach the gospel to all nations, and explain to others the reason for our joy and peace in even the worst of times. How Satan loves it when he can put it in people’s heads that they need to spend hour after hour on the internet chasing down endless improvable theories about the New World Order. Whatever “order” is coming, we can just proceed with our Christian lives content in the knowledge that it is all divinely ordained by God.
I heard Nathan Leal’s buddy Rick Wiles say in August that people should send his ministry money because God “commissioned” him to “read the news.” What a bunch of baloney. God doesn’t commission secular careers. Wiles left TBN and set up his own ministry in 1999 because he knew he would stay in the shadow of Jan and Paul Crouch there, and he wanted to be in the limelight himself and have his own media empire.
Nathan Leal is even worse if that’s possible, even going so far as to misrepresent himself to relatives of mine in a creepy attempt to gather information about me in social media. I cannot believe how many otherwise earnest and discerning Christians have fallen for his nonsense for years now and are blind to the fact that he is a false prophet. He still has that wicked forum running with all its dream interpretation, soothsaying, and conspiracy theory in the guise of true Christianity. The man has made literally dozens of claims that God has revealed the future to him, and not once has he ever been right about any of these “revelations.”
Flee from this crowd, tsimitpo. The Bible tells us that those who follow the false prophets will suffer the same fate as them. You don’t need a prophet to “reveal” anything to you. All things for righteousness and Godly living are already given to us in Scripture. God spoke to us under the Old Covenant through prophets, but today he speaks to us through the Son.
As to what is taught in the New Testament on how to address false teaching, there is a clear precedent set for actually naming names. And it makes sense, that to save ourselves from perishing through the effects of false doctrine, we would need to know who the wolves are.
Paul named Demas for loving the world. <em 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. (II Tim. 4:10)
Paul named Alexander the coppersmith, clearly in the context of a doctrinal issue: 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. (II Tim. 4:14-15).
John named Diotrephes. 9 I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. 10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.
Paul named Peter for his unscriptural practices, and did it publicly. Galatians 2 11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned…….14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”.
In fact when Paul didn’t use specific names, it was usually because he was speaking to an entire group of people, such as a church.
The Old Testament as well abounds in example after example of the false teachers being called out by name. Both Moses (Num. 22-25) and Jude (Jude I:1) called out Balaam. Nathan called out by pointing directly at him the man who was a secret adulterer. It is inescapable thatn there is strong biblical backing for calling out names. In fact I consider it near to being a commandment when one truly realizes the harm the wolves do. When souls are sent to damnation for all eternity, political correctness shouldn’t rule the day. If we truly love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will tell them the wolf is nearby. The other option is unthinkable: to allow our neighbor to be devoured out of some misguided sense of social correctness.
I wish you all blessings, and the blessing of discernment especially. If we can’t see through the nonsense of these flagrant false teachers now, we will be easy fodder for the Antichrist, who will be extremely clever and deceptive.
In Christ,
JD Ellis
J.D. although I agree we should not spend hour after hour chasing down conspiracy theories (and facts) about the NWO I believe it is vital that Christians have at least some familiarity with the conspiracies that are forming this world government. Most Christians have absolutely no knowledge of the realities of the matrix of deception we live in. Most of what everybody believes about the past and present is false. A discerning Christian friend that is rapidly learning that recently said to me, “truth is stranger than fiction.” And man was she right. Satan created the first conspiracy and particularly Psalm 64, especially in the NIV, conveys the reality of conspiracies of men. Generations of government and mass media propaganda has falsely labeled all conspiracies as theories. The fact is most contain a whole lot more truth than fiction.
Hosea 4:6 says my people perish for lack of knowledge. While the verse applies in a spiritual sense to a lack of knowledge about God it is very clear it also applies to us physically. Lack of important knowledge could even be fatal. We could certainly die any number of ways from the NWO and it’s conspirators, natural disasters and diseases, etc, but darn if I am going to subject my body, this temple of the Holy Spirit to known hazards such as GMO’s, toxic vaccines and other dangerous pharmaceuticals, toxic public water, toxic foods, etc., all of which are intentially created to control, harm us, and produce lucrative profits for the powers in control. I can’t control everything they are throwing at us for harm but I can do some things.
Isn’t the first axiom in any war to know your enemy? Christians are in a war and we better know our enemies, Satan and his angels, and his human subjects working for him. That said I detest the fear mongering nonsense that permeates so much of alternative media now. Christians of all people have nothing to fear no matter what happens. Concern yes, but not fear. Lies and fear. Both are epidemic now and far worse than anything Ebola and the NWO can do to us.
Bible prophecy and true conspiracies can both be used to point people to Jesus.
Hi Steven. Thanks for the comments.
I am not a “conspiracy theory denier” by any means. I went through the whole gamut of Alex Jones, and then to Christian fear mongers, and am able to use the intelligence God gave me to sort out the true from the probably true, the improvable, and the downright ridiculous. Yes, we need to be aware that there are organizations that clearly don’t have our best interests at heart. And more sinister organizations which are out to annihilate us. But I just don’t see the Christian pulpit or the Christian internet ministry as the appropriate venue for dispensing information which is either totally or mostly concerned with these things.
I think it is even more inappropriate when some of the sleazier ministries ask for money from their listeners with the clear implication that they are getting, either themselves or through guests on their shows, direct divine revelation on these matters. This is absurd to think that God will give special revelation concerning these secular issues to these “anointed” news readers, some with the word “pastor” in front of their names like Rick Wiles. This monstrous con man has been slowly over 15 years building a media empire for himself. And for God what has he done? He has done nothing but seek his own notoriety. He couldn’t exegete a passage from scripture to save his life. Outlandish pronouncements are a daily occurrence on his show. The man needs to be in the spotlight, because he knows the gravy train stops if he doesn’t keep himself in the news.
You stated: “Bible prophecy and true conspiracies can both be used to point people to Jesus.”
I disagree entirely with the overall direction of this comment. Yes, a Christian can be loud and outlandish and get people to listen to him, but what does just repeating the name of Christ and the fact that he is coming, on each show do to those dead in their trespasses? That certainly doesn’t bring people to saving faith, and its saving faith that its all about.
God’s plan from the beginning of time was to use the simple ordinary preacher, with no agenda for himself other than to glorify the name of Jesus, with the simple message of the gospel, which is utter foolishness to man. The work of regeneration is a work accomplished by the Holy Spirit, after the gospel has been preached, not after the conspiracies have been discussed and dissected enough to solicit this month’s quota of donations.
Somebody ought to tell “pastor” Wiles that he doesn’t have the scriptural authority to preach another gospel. In fact, scripture says “let all those who preach another gospel be accursed.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or weep when I heard Wiles claim that God “commissioned” him to “read the news.” Listen to what Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 1
Promoting “speculations and vain discussions” I think describes the false teachers of the internet perfectly. Its like Paul had a window where he could see today’s internet church. Look, Steven, if you’re not preaching the gospel, nobody is getting saved. God’s plan for salvation will never change. He doesn’t change the rules in the end game. We can listen to the gospel and preach the gospel or we can listen to and preach what we think the government is planning. Its our choice. One will result in damnation while the other will lead us to the narrow gate.
We need to cut out all the contaminants that pollute our Christian walk. Wiles is right about one thing: we need to be ready at all times. We don’t know the day or the hour of our Lord’s coming. But when we stand before God, we won’t be asked how many we told about the New World Order. If you want to spend a certain amount of time following theories and the news, by all means. Yes, we need to be informed. But take it as a divine warning if you find you are spending more time dealing with temporary secular possibilities than with the eternal guarantee of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The percentage of what is discussed on the Christian internet conspiracy shows concerning the endtimes that has an actual direct correlation to true biblical eschatology is wildly exaggerated.
People like Nathan Leal, Rick Wiles, Augusto Perez, Steve Quayle and the whole lot of them are so narcissistic that they think its all about Jesus Christ AND THEM. They don’t exegete scripture, they “narcigete” it. (to borrow a phrase from the late apologist and discernment blogger Ken Silva.) Well, its not. Its only about Christ and what he has done. The most Godly ones in the church today are those who don’t want any part of the limelight. They just quietly and anonymously preach the word of God, in season and out of season. These are the ones who will surely hear the words “well done, my good and faithful servant.”
All blessings in your journey with Christ,
JD Ellis
I was talking about BIBLE PROPHECY and the VITAL importance of knowing it, not the senseless babble from Rick Wiles, Steve Quayle, Nathan Leal and others. The two have nothing in common.
Sorry if I’m wrong. My take was that you were defending Christian ministries and websites in embracing conspiracy theory as part of their pulpit and microphone teachings because of our need to know. My position is that these musings are entirely secular in nature, whether engaged in by wacky babblers like Wiles, or even esteemed and well-informed ministers, and should never become a core teaching of any ministry which calls itself Christian.
I didn’t find your comments to be entirely about “bible prophecy and the vital importance of knowing it” because you in several places used the phrases “conspiracy theory” and “bible prophecy” in the same sentence or paragraph as if they were interchangeable and completely connected to each other. The only conspiracy we as Christians need to be taught from the pulpit or Christian internet broadcast is the conspiracy of Satan to come between us and our eternal salvation. One of the chief weapons he uses in this conspiracy is to drive us away from the core foundation of biblical truth and onto myths and vain discussions. And dutifully or sometimes unwittingly, many ministries set up these theories in a manner that they become a golden calf. Like all idols, these teachings of the conspiracies of men will eventually fall, while the gospel of Jesus Christ endures to the end of time.
I am not against Christians informing themselves of worldly events, even conspiracies where they may exist. I am against Christians expecting to hear debate on the merits or pros and cons of various conspiracy theories when they visit their church or online ministry. Clearly these have no place in church. Neither Christ nor his apostles gave the slightest hint of it being of paramount importance that we keep abreast on the latest behind-the-scenes movements of governments or power elites. But then people will tell me, …”oh, yes, but now these times are so perilous we need to know what to expect next from the powers that secretly rule the world!!!” Not true. Times were equally as perilous in the apostolic age as they are now. Christians were being crucified, and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. was one of the most horrific single events ever. Bubonic plague during the Middle Ages wiped out more of the population of Europe than even the most pessimistic forecasts about Ebola call for. The gospel of Jesus Christ shouldn’t take a back seat to conspiracy discussion in any age, no matter how dark events become.
Even with regard to actual conspiracies that threaten us, we should recognize that all conspiracies, both the true and the completely untrue, are born out of spiritual strongholds which have been set up by Satan since the Garden. The endgame is to pull us away from the true source of our strength in Jesus Christ. We can’t turn aside demonic strongholds with carnal means. It is misguided to think that if we just listen to “experts” explain the theories and get up to speed about them, we can then launch effective measures against them.
2 Cor. 10 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
The verses in Hosea 4 you mention are speaking of the wickedness of the people and how it will be punished by the Lord because they have rejected HIS truth. I don’t believe anyone will be punished by God for being short on secular knowledge of worldly issues. I guess it depends what lenses you use to read scripture. I see the warnings of scriptural passages like this to be far more a warning to fear the one who can destroy the soul in eternal fire than I see them to be warnings about what can happen to our physical bodies if we let other men con us.
There are numerous ministries who pronounce that they can draw straight lines between various current conspiracy theories and the prophecy contained in the books of Revelation and Daniel. The amount of pure conjecture and fancy that is required to connect these dots is overwhelming. They completely overlook that much of the colorful imagery in the book of Revelation is meant to be figurative and symbolic. No matter how sure we are that a certain conspiracy theory is true, it should never be raised to the level of certainty held by our divine assurance contained in the gospel, and thus the two should never be preached from the same pulpit.
Blessings,
JD