"Spiritual Experiences Are Biblical. Let's take a look at some practical examples of supernatural experiences that have been labeled as New Age in much of today's culture. First up, are trances Christian or New Age? Well, the apostle Peter fell into a trance. Here is the reference: "I was in the city of Joppa praying. And in a trance I saw a vision: A vessel like a great sheet was descending, let down from heaven by four corners, and it came to me" (Acts 11:5). The apostle Paul also experienced a trance. Here is his reference: "When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance" (Acts 22:17). Are angel visitations "New Age" or Christian? Are you aware that angels are mentioned 185 times in the New Testament alone? There were at least 20 angelic visitations just in the book of Acts. In contrast, the Holy Spirit is mentioned 223 times in the New Testament." -- Kris Vallotton
What Vallotton is doing here is creating all or nothing theologies. His rational says that if there were instances of trances in the bible then all trances are "biblical." If there are 185 references to angels in the bible, then all angelic visitations today must be biblical. Those are such poor hermeneutics it should be criminal. The Greek word here for trance is what we know as ecstasy. Peter actually has no idea what the message in the trance was supposed to mean. Go back to Chapter Ten, where the trance actually occurred and we find in verse 19 that the Holy Spirit had to speak to him directly so he could understand what God was saying. The larger point here is that Kris seizes upon two references to the word trance in 6000 years of recorded history and concludes that all trances today therefore must be considered biblical. Yet if one watches the trances that occurred at the Toronto or Pensacola demonic outpourings we would not dare conclude that these were from God. No one serious argues against the existence of angels. It is when you claim their feathers fall off around you at a public diner with no witnesses that we start to wonder. Or when you claim to be able to release the "angels of abundant harvest"; like Jennifer LeClaire once did that we stop and claim heresy.
"The Gospel Is Powerful. What I'm getting at is that you can't separate the gospel from the power of God! Paul put it like this: " ... by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 15:19). He brings this point home in 1 Corinthians 4:20: "For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." If we teach that there are no longer gifts of the Spirit--that prophecy, healing and deliverance are not for today and that all spiritual experiences and/or supernatural encounters have passed--is this not reducing the gospel? Isn't it just as dangerous to remove the power of God from the people of God as it is to be deceived? In fact, isn't this, in itself, partnering with deception? It's imperative that we heed Paul's warning to Timothy and not become preachers with no power. Paul said, "Know this: In the last days perilous times will come. Men will be ... having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such people" (2 Tim. 3:1, 5)." -- Kris Vallotton
Only someone as deceived as Kris Vallotton can read the scripture section he cites from Romans 15 and come out focused on the one referent to signs and wonders. This section is entirely about the power of the Gospel! The proper preaching of the Gospel is accompanied by signs and wonders, not the least of which is the transformation of the unregenerate heart into a saved creature for Christ. That is the point. The signs and the wonders attest to the Gospel; they do not distract from it. Once again, Vallotton offers a false choice. Either embrace everything he thinks is "power" or you are stripping the power out of the Gospel. The true partnering with deception is when we assume everything that appears as a sign, trance, visitation must be from God because the bible has X number of angel references and a handful of occurrences of the word trance. For example, Kim Walker-Smith is the lead worship leader for Jesus Culture, who have been taught by Johnson and Vallotton. Walker-Smith tells of this trance like waking visitation she received where Jesus acted like a shy boyfriend around her before whisking her away to the actual throne room of God where she met and spoke to the father face-face. When she asked "the father" what he was thinking when he made her, she claims God ripped out a piece of His heart and molded a miniature version of Walker-Smith to dance for him while he clapped maniacally. Now we KNOW from the bible this was a demonic visitation because scripture assures us she could not have met the father face-to-face without dying. How could someone deemed so "spiritual" be so deceived? Because she has been taught by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson that our experiences outweigh scripture. She has been taught all sorts of nonsense about angels and trances. She has been taught to trust her own deceptive heart over the verity of the word. How ironic that Kris perfectly selected the verses that speak against him and this teaching, which I have made the key verses for this devotional but included all of them. These verses warn us about the last days and how people within the church will becomes lovers of self and money. Arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They will want the appearance of Godliness but deny its power. That power is the Gospel because it alone has the power of God unto the salvation of man. Kris cobbles together verses one and five and omits verses 2-4, which provide the context. The power Paul speaks to, which we cannot deny and remain godly, is the Gospel. When false teachers like Vallotton want to speak about angels, trances and other forms of Eastern Mysticism, they are in fact distracting from the Gospel and preaching without the true power of God.
"My Spirit Guide. If you're a believer, you, like me, have a "Spirit Guide"--His name is Holy Spirit and He guides us into all truth! The Bible says, "But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). In fact, Holy Spirit gives us the power to do the work of the gospel. The very word "saved" in the Greek language is sozo, and it actually means "saved, healed and delivered." Therefore, we must, as Paul exhorted us, fully preach and demonstrate the gospel so that people who experience our ministry receive the full benefits of the blood of Jesus--sozo. Imagine the impact of an empowered church, taking up our call to minister in the power of God's kingdom, serving in even the darkest places on the planet, healing and redeeming the world back to God! How will you take up this call and invite Holy Spirit into your everyday life? Tell me about it in the comments below!" -- Kris Vallotton
So Kris reveals he has been playing a shell game all along. He purposefully entitles this article to draw hits and stir controversy and then reveals he is only speaking about the Holy Spirit as our guide, which no one would argue with. The problem is the entire article was premised on following extra-spiritual things such as trances and angels. This is what the devil loves doing. Mixing some level of truth with utter lies so the deception is easier. Remember the title of this article was, "Do Christians Have Spirit Guides." It was at best disingenuous and worst willfully deceptive. Then remember that his entire premise was that we should not discard spiritual manifestations that come from the kingdom of darkness if we think they once belonged to God. This article was as deceptive as Kris Vallotton is as a teacher. Do not focus on things that distract from the Gospel beloved. Yes angels are real but so are demons. Keep your eyes focused on Christ and His word or you may be deceived without realizing it, like Kim-Walker-Smith. Does the word trance appear in the bible? Yes but the Holy Spirit does not need to alter your consciousness to speak to you. The truth He leads us into is found in the word of God. It is never wrong and discerns for us what is good and we are to hold fast to. It also reveals that which is false, like Kris Vallotton, and how to mark and avoid such as if our very lives depended on it.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- November 29, 2019
