Four different stories from this week in c r a z y...

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https://www.charismanews.com/culture/77223-medical-study-proves-validity-of-speaking-in-tongues

https://www.charismanews.com/us/77212-disturbing-research-americans-find-pastors-increasingly-irrelevant

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/77227-why-99-of-people-with-spinal-issues-are-healed-when-this-pentecostal-preacher-prays-for-them

https://jenniferleclaire.org/articles/3-ways-your-mantle-gets-damaged/?v=7516fd43adaa

Occasionally we come across stories that are too good to not take note of yet too small to commit an entire devotional to. What I try to do is pair them together to write about the general advancement of crazy within the Charismaniacal world over a particular week. This week we will start with the first link above, which was written by an organization called Lightworkers. Using an 11 year old study, Lightworkers declares that there is now scientific proof for speaking in tongues. Perhaps they should have started with finding biblical proof first. The second link is to more recent research, revealing that pastors are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Gee, I wonder why? Thirdly, we will deal with a preacher claiming a 99% healing rate for spinal issues and close with the Calamari Queen, Jennifer Leclaire, and her latest teaching on dirty mantles. So buckle up boys and girls! Let us reason once more starting with the article regarding tongues.

"In 2008, the University of Pennsylvania released findings from a medical study proving that the practice of speaking in tongues is sourced by the Holy Spirit. In the study, participants' brain activity was monitored while they spoke in tongues, giving the medical researchers scientific insight into the parts of the brain active while speaking in these "heavenly tongues"--and the results were astounding." - Lightworkers

Astounding results from a scientific perspective regarding tongues as presented by the modern charismatic church? Wait a minute. The results were released in 2008 and the study was actually conducted in 2006? The results were so scientifically astounding it took 13 years to report on it? Color me skeptical beloved. Let us cut to the chase:

'When test subjects prayed in their native language, their brain activity indicated normal behavior for speech in the frontal lobe. However, when the same test subjects prayed in tongues, their brain activity showed something extremely different. "[The test subject's] scan showed that the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls language, was active when he prayed in English. But for the most part, it fell quiet when he prayed in tongues." Dr. Newberg confirmed this finding saying, "When they are actually engaged in this whole very intense spiritual practice for them, their frontal lobes tend to go down in activity, but I think it's very consistent with the kind of experience that they have because they say that they are not in charge--it's the voice of God, the Spirit of God that's moving through them."' - Lightworkers

So, let me see if have the science right. The frontal lobe of our brain is the active area when we speak. When someone speaks their language, it is reflected in activity within that lobe. Yet when the person was speaking gibberish, I mean in tongues, the frontal lobe fell silent in terms of activity. So the people who desperately want the unbiblical version of of Charismaniacal tongues to be scientifically justified conclude that the inaction of the frontal lobe indicates that God is speaking through them. I hate to be Debbie Downer here but isn't it more likely that the frontal lobe shows no activity because the gibberish of church tongues is simply not a language? I am all for bringing our beliefs more into the mainstream but things like this only serve to make Charismatics seem foolish. Onto the discovery that pastors are losing relevance!

"A NORC/AP poll of 1,137 adults released this month shows that doctors, teachers, members of the military--even scientists--are viewed more positively than clergy. The less frequently people attend church, the more negative their views. Among those who attend less than once a month, only 42% said they had a positive view of clergy members--a rate comparable to that of lawyers, who rank near the bottom of the list of professions." -- Religion News Service (RNS)

Even scientists! Gasp! Seriously, the first question thing we must realize is pastoring was never meant to be a popularity contest. Pastors who stay true to the Gospel will speak much harder truths than any scientist ever will. The modern-day purpose driven experience however turns it into a popularity contest. Consider the various sins of Mark Driscoll, formerly of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. A church he had built into 15,000+ attendance very week. It still stuns me to this day that most people view his primary offense as being how he treated other people, which was horrific. To me steaking $250,000 in tithe money to cheat the NY Times Best Seller list was far more egregious. RNS continues delving into their research:

"While frequent church attenders still hold clergy in high regard--about 75% viewed them positively--they give them only passing grades on a number of personal attributes. Only 52% of monthly churchgoers consider clergy trustworthy (that number drops to 23% among those who attend less than once a month) and 57% said they were honest and intelligent (compared with 27% and 30% among infrequent attenders). "If you buy into the religious worldview, then the religious leader looks completely different than if you don't buy into the religious worldview," said Scott Thumma, professor of the sociology of religion at Hartford Seminary. "The perception from the outside is pretty bleak." The survey confirms previous studies. A 2018 Gallup survey of the public's views of the honesty and ethical standards of a variety of occupations found that only 37% of Americans viewed clergy "very highly" (with 43% having an "average" view of clergy). It was the lowest Gallup recorded since it began examining occupations in 1977." -- RNS

Lowest since 1977. Well, what has happened since then? We had the televangelist thievery of the 1980s, culminating with the Baker and Swaggart scandals. The 1990's saw the church jump off the theological cliff in Toronto and Pensacola with demonic outpourings. This was of course accompanied with the release of the Purpose Driven Church, which started the cult of personality pastor movement. The end of the 1990s saw the emergence of the New Apostolic Reformation accompanied with a fierce dominionism and the establishment of false signs and lying wonders churches such as Bethel and IHOP. As we turned the century the groundwork had been laid for the emergence of the apostate church you see today. Besides the Todd Bentley low hanging fruit, you had pastor after pastor fall from grace and a church protect the wolves at the expense of the sheep. I am surprised 37% found them highly honest and ethical quite frankly. Just some final points from the research:

"Perhaps as troubling, the NORC/AP poll, conducted May 17-20, showed that even monthly churchgoers don't want clergy influence in their lives on a number of issues. Americans across the board said they didn't want clergy input when it came to family planning, child rearing, sex, careers, financial decision-making, medical decision-making or voting. Clergy, the poll suggests, are growing irrelevant." -- RNS

People are not stupid beloved. they see the financial maleficence among pastors so why would they go to them for financial decisions? So they can be asked about their tithing? I know of a local pastor who told a newly married couple that they were not conceiving because they were not tithing correctly. They see the Robert Morris' of the world claim God will curse their money if they do not give him the first ten percent. Family planning and child rearing? Physician heal thyself. There is a reason why pastors qualifications in the bible include children who are obedient. Sex? The hypocrisy within the church is rancid when it comes to the one topic no one wants to talk about until they are married. And why would they anyway? How many pastors and Christian leaders have affairs, divorce their wives and are simply "restored" like magic. Voting? Are you kidding me? The church is nearly completely compromised by the world when it comes to politics. Half the people are told from the start that they are wrong and in some cases in danger of hell based on their voting record but people see the hypocrisy. They see what the other side supports that is also not biblical. The damage of the NAR dominionists in this area is crippling the church today and politics is now the number one idol within the walls of the church. The research suggests what should be obvious -- when you create a man designed church that is not based on the shepherd model found in the bible, your so-called pastors will become irrelevant.

The third link above is to a recent report regarding a faith healer who claims 99% of people he prays for are healed of spinal alignment issues. The author is Stephen Strang of Charisma News and the charlatan in question is Stephen Strader. Let's dive right in to the heresy pool:

"My longtime friend Stephen Strader says 99% of the people who need spinal alignment get healed in his ministry meetings. But what could possibly be the reason for the incredible healings he is seeing? He says it has everything to do with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I recently invited Strader--pastor of Ignited Church in Lakeland, Florida--onto my "Strang Report" podcast. Strader was born again at 8 years old and baptized in the Holy Spirit at 12, and he still walks in that power today. "To this day, 99% of anybody I pray for who needs their body aligned, they're instantly healed in my meetings because of that transfer of anointing," he says.

Strader is referring to the late Richard Vineyard's anointing to pray for healing over those whose spines were out of alignment. Strader's father, Pastor Karl D. Strader, invited Vineyard to minister at his church. Although Vineyard never became widely known, he would conduct revival meetings for two to six weeks at a time, something few other ministries were doing at the time. "I got the baptism of the Holy Spirit when I was 12 years old in [Vineyard's] meetings," Strader says. "I spoke in tongues for 45 minutes. And he was really famous for the leg thing, where they would grow out a leg, which we know now was just adjusting the spine. But back then we didn't know that--we just thought he was growing legs out! And he would invite all the boys and girls to come up around and watch." -- Stephen Strang

Let's start with the growing leg scam, which has been thoroughly debunked and can be easily found on YouTube. It was not adjusting the spine -- it was duping the suckers into believing you were growing their leg (under the premise that one was shorter than the other). That aside, let's address the unbelievable stupidity in this claim. So, given the increase in cancers, immune system disorders, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, God decided to start with spinal alignment? The entire premise is simply ridiculous. That God would decide to heal 99% of people this man touches but only for something as benign and virtually untestable as spinal alignment? This is a large part of the reason why people do not believe in anything coming out from the church these days. Not only for the scammers but for the rest of the church to support them, endorse them, and protect them. If someone has that great a healing gift why aren't they in the hospital healing everyone? The same reason psychics do not win the lottery. Please, stop the nonsense.

Speaking of nonsense, let us finish today with the fourth link to Jennifer Leclaire's website. This video teaching from the Master of the Sneaky Squid Spirit is about three ways you can damage your mantle. I didn't know I had one either! Apparently, God shows Jennifer in the spirit realm when people are wearing dirty or torn mantles. Now we should always check before we leave the house that we have indeed washed and darned our mantles but sometimes the anointing is so slick you just slide right out of the house! Thank goodness for Jennifer Leclaire that when she is not busy releasing the angels of abundant harvest she takes time for some good old fashioned deep theological teachings. So the three ways we can damage or soil our mantles are when rebellious people try to control us, when we tear the mantle ourselves and finally when your enemy tears your mantle. To appear pious and biblical, Jennifer went as far as to google the word "mantle" in the bible and spewed out some verses that do not come close to the point she is making.

Because there are no secret magical mantles beloved. Just like there are no unicorns and sneaky squid spirits. The scarier point of poking this fun at Leclaire is that she is taken seriously by many. She has a platform as a former editor of Charisma News and now has founded her own school of the spirit, a school for prophets and a school for seers. Sure, she runs them out of the same PO Box and room at the Fort Lauderdale Airport Holiday Inn, but still. Whether it is Leclaire giving a bad name to Christ and prophecy, Lightworks making Christianity look foolish or Strader ruining the witness for God with his fake healing scams -- the point is the same. Trust and respect for the church and its leaders is in rapid decline. Until we correct the sins of the purpose driven nightmare and the NAR this decline will continue as the great apostasy is well under way. Be vigilant beloved. These four stories are out there every single week. Crazy just refuses to take a week off and so neither should we beloved. Neither should we.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- July 19, 2019

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.