Dissecting the latest Charismaniacal butchering of the Bible.

::::::::

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. -- 2Corinthians 1:20 (ESV)

https://charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-growth/43241-god-has-a-promised-land-of-blessing-for-you-here-s-how-to-walk-in-it

"God has a promised land of blessing for you and here is how to walk in it" the headline screamed. Gee, what can go wrong from there? Beloved, the NAR Charismaniacal landscape is littered with such poor teaching about experiential Christianity outweighing the verity of Scripture. We need to be vigilant in these last days lest we become deceived. God speaks to us clearly through His written word if we would have ears to hear. His voice is not discerned by goose bumps and liver shivers. It is not confirmed through pagan beliefs and happenstance. The above linked article is from NAR charismaniac Mark Virkler. It is important to pay attention so that we can learn to spot these mangled teachings in our own church and lives, mark them and then avoid them. So come and let us reason together once more.

"We all want to achieve the goals and receive the blessings God has prepared and ordained for us. I believe God has a promised land of blessing for each and every one of us. Some of these promised land blessings are delineated in Deuteronomy 28:1-18, and as you read them, they will take your breath away. They touch every area of our lives! If you haven't read them recently, do so now! All these promises are reaffirmed to us in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). Let's make sure we arrive at our promised lands." -- Mark Virkler

Sigh. One of the most prolific false teachings that is central to so many others is this warped sense of Christian purpose. This started in the mid 1990's with Rick Warren publishing the Purpose Driven Church, which has become a manual for up and coming pastors for how to build mega-churches devoid of the Gospel. The "purpose" pastors sell sheep is now based on providing free labor to the growing church. Maybe your purpose can be found in the Parking Lot Ministry or Kidz Church. Whether a security guard, camera man, or choir member, God always has a "purpose" for you. The Purpose Driven Life came out ten years alter and was designed to sell even higher purposes to unsuspecting Christians. Suddenly God had something great and powerful for every believer that has been ordained from the foundations of the earth. Everything in the modern church became about chasing blessings. Never satisfied with Calvary, believers always were prompted to want and expect more. Jesus became a blessing dispenser that we just needed to figure out how to unlock.

We see this theology on display in Mark Virkler's opening salvo here. He sets up these notions of goals and blessings from God as a form of "gnosis" or spiritual knowledge gained through experience. The problem of course is that the goals God has for the vast majority of His followers is simply to follow Him. To pick up our cross daily and die to self. To represent Christ in our families and workplaces. To be that shining city on a hill. The blessings may simply be to breathe another day. It may be to think of all Christ has done instead of looking for more. Virkler's belief that there are Promised Lands filled with blessings for everyone is frankly ridiculous. Deuteronomy 28 is the completion of the Mosaic Law. God does indeed outline the 18 verses of blessings for obedience to the entire Mosaic Law and then He goes into over 50 other verses the various curses for disobedience. One of them includes being taken into captivity by a pagan nation. Sound familiar? That's because Deuteronomy 28 is not written to you! It was written to the nation of Israel who would always be disobedient and eventually God fulfilled His promise by having Babylon take them into captivity! To make matters worse, Virkler than conflates the key verse today and implies that it reaffirms his misuse of the Deuteronomy verses. It does not. All of the promises of God are yes but that does not change who the promises and curses contained in Deuteronomy 28 were meant for. Not to mention that no one could keep the Mosaic Law, which is why we needed Jesus to begin with!

"A summary statement of God's heart toward us would be: "'For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you shall call upon Me, and you shall come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart'" (Jer. 29:11-13)." -- Mark Virkler

Virkler now doubles down on an even more abused bible verse in Jeremiah 29:11. Ironically, as pointed out, this verse was foretold in the Deuteronomy curses because this verse is solely intended for the captives in Babylon. God wanted them to know that He had not forgotten about them and that He still had a plan for them. Can this be applied to the church today? Absolutely not. Sorry. Now, if you want to make a similar argument for the church, you must find verses that were directed for the church and make the argument. Our hope is not of this world. We are not promised greatness, nor even peace within this world. In fact, we are promised hatred from the world towards us for following Christ. We are promised that we must deny ourselves and carry our own cross daily. We are to partake in the sufferings of Christ. The modern apostate church sells a crown of glory and pretends you do not need the crown of thorns first. God's plans for you may be to act as a Christian in your mundane job and raise your family according to the word of God. It may be to die for His namesake. Our future and hope is in heaven beloved.

'"All my heart." That would be "wholeheartedness." The only things we are to be wholehearted about are things relating to our love and obedience to God and His direction for our lives.I am constantly asking God for His guidance, direction and anointing in the projects He sets before me. I pursue them in obedience to His voice and rely on His anointing, wisdom, power and favor to flow through me, granting me success. Gaining this victory will be one more piece of evidence of God's faithfulness and the truth and relevance of the Bible's promises for us today. This posture keeps me in divine flow so God's creativity and guidance can flow through me. God is a God who hides Himself (Isa. 45:15) and it is the glory of a king to search out a matter (Prov. 25:2). We are royalty (kings and queens [1 Pet. 2:9]), so it is up to us to search and seek and pursue. I seek direction through God's voice as I search for answers to release the victory. I seek power through His Spirit as I press forward with faith, hope and love. God has ordained that experiencing His kingdom is a Spirit-led process where I cease my efforts. I look and see Him at my right hand (Acts 2:25; Ps. 16:8). I ask for His revelation, anointing and power to flow. Then I tune to His river that flows within (John 7:37-39). I honor His voice, which comes as flowing thoughts, and His visions, which come as flowing pictures. I accept in faith that these things are flowing within me.' -- Mark Virkler

This is the dangerous teachings that set Christians up to doubt God. Not everything we set our lives to is God-ordained. We can convince ourselves it is though. We can submit it into prayer and sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes we do not get the victory as we wanted it. We do not get the job or promotion. Sometimes our children do stray. Notice that only success as defined within the carnal mind of Mark Virkler constitutes victory. Peter's denial of Christ could hardly be considered victorious yet it was a crucial part of his development in Christ. I can testify to many times the Lord said no and it was a place of victory for sure. Virkler then does a breathtakingly poor job of stringing together three verses that have nothing to do with each other. The verse about a king searching out a matter has nothing to do with God hiding Himself and the fact that Peter refers to us as kings and queens has even less to do with either of the other scriptures. Experiencing the kingdom of God starts with knowing His word, not some esoteric, experiential, gnostic sense of "spirit." There is no such thing as "tuning to His river!" Look at the nonsense Virkler claims represents God's voice! Flowing thoughts, visions and flowing pictures in our mind do not necessarily come from God. In all likelihood they come from our wickedly deceitful heart. Virkler's acceptance that these things are the voice of God is exactly where experiential Christianity goes off the rails. This is how the NAR teaches people to "hear God." Instead of reading their bible, which we know He wrote, they listen to whatever pops into their wicked mind and claim it is direct revelation. Yet another very dangerous practice.

"I know I already have the victory in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 15:57) so I maintain a positive attitude, which helps a lot. It is hard to win if I don't believe I will win. I smile and stay relaxed so the flow of the Spirit can continually guide. This flow is cut off until I cease my labors and enter into the state of rest (Heb. 3-4). In addition, His victory comes by hearing and following His voice. I know that by obeying His voice, I am assured of success. When the Israelites followed God's voice in the wilderness and in the taking of the Promised Land, they won. When they doubted or did not follow His voice, they died. So I smile, relax, tune to flow and confess I have this victory, even before the victory is fully manifest in the natural realm (Mark 11:22-24). Relaxed optimism releases faith, hope and love (1 Cor. 13:13), which in turn opens me up to heavenly brilliance, anointing and divine creativity. My attitude is, "I don't have problems, only challenges that are already overcome in Christ Jesus!" Joy and thanksgiving flood my soul. I am in peace as I relentlessly pursue this victory. Kingdom anointing and power ride on the wings of kingdom emotions (Rom. 14:17; Matt. 14:14)." -- Mark Virkler

Read 1Corinthians 15:57 and ask yourself what is it that we have the victory over in Christ Jesus? It is kind of important. Jesus gives us the victory over the grave! Virkler tries to corrupt that into a vague sense of victory in all of our earthly affairs because this world is all the NAR truly cares about. He claims to only follow the voice of God but remember that voice is his own voice inside of his head. He has already admitted that. He then usurps that victory of Israel, plays the word faith card of speaking it before it happens, and as a result claims he is entitled to heavenly brilliance, anointing and divine creativity. No Mark, you are being led by the father of lies and are just following the lies he whispers into your deceitful heart. Kingdom anointing and power ride on the wings of kingdom emotions? Where in the world did he get that from? It sure is not in the bible. We cannot rely upon our emotions beloved but the word of God never changes and is never wrong. That is where the power of God resides.

'Personal Journaling Application.

1. "Lord, what is the passionate desire You have put in my heart that I am to pursue at this time?"

2. "Lord, what gifts have You given me that are to be used to make me victorious in the area of my heart's passion?"

3. "Lord, I commit myself to achieving Your victory in this assignment so Your world will be blessed, Your name glorified and Your promised fulfilled."' -- Mark Virkler

These are the deceptive things Virkler wants you to journal as a result of this horrifically unbiblical teaching. Let me start by saying we do not have a constant assignment from God other than to behave as His follower. Love Him and love our neighbors and in doing so fulfill the prophets and the Law. That passionate desire in your heart may very well have not come from the Lord. Test everything. This article did not bless the Lord because it completely misrepresented Him! Beloved, do not follow the incoherent ramblings of the NAR and Charismaniacal experiential Christianity. God warns us that our hearts are deceitful above all else for a reason. Do not fall for the purpose driven dreams of mega-churchdom. Where God has planted you, follow Him. That is your purpose and a greater one you will never have.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- November 7, 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.