Strange Fire
While we at The Awakening are not given to a specific denomination, we do
have our feet firmly rooted in the Supernatural. It really only makes
sense since those of us who are believers in God, who have been Born Again
through accepting God’s gift of salvation through Jesus the Christ through who’s
blood we receive redemption, the forgiveness of all our sins, who places a new
spirit within us, making all things pass away and all things become new, we are
only Born Again through a Supernatural event from a Supernatural God giving us a
Supernatural spirit and opening fellowship with this Supernatural God on a
Supernatural Spirit level. That is a lot of Supernatural and there is more
yet to come!
With that said, we must warn people to stay alert to deceptions coming in the
name of Revival or Awakenings, which may look on the surface to be of God and
promoting God, but yet have a darker side and offering what we would call
“Strange Fire” (more on this term shortly). Over the centuries, deceivers
have come and gone and more always seem to be on the way.
Currently, there are some on small scale, locally throughout the world and
others on very large scale, nationally or globally. Some of these may be
working in the local church, innocent enough, leading people slightly off mark
or perhaps only seeking attention and a following. Often these people
appear to be more of a showman or to entertain. Whatever their reason or
course, they claim to be of God and acting in the power of God when they are
not, which opens the door to deception, followed with church splits, hurting
people after they find out the truth and in extreme cases, it can lead to a loss
of life such as the case of Jim Jones, he did not come out at the beginning and
tell them to drink poison and kill themselves, it was one step after another
until they were consumed.
Example of a false prophet and leader
As an example, at the time of this writing, there is a revival where the
leader claims to have been delivered of 25 demons, slithering around on the
floor, shouting profanities, completely out of control. Well, we believe
in deliverance from demons, so this is not an alarm until he goes on to say that
this occurred after he was Born Again and filled with the Spirit. For me,
this was the instant alarm that this minister is far off the mark. When a
person is Born Again and filled with the Spirit of God, they cannot be demon
possessed, they can be “oppressed”, but oppression does not have the ability to
control you as would happen when you are possessed. The Spirit of God and
a demonic spirit cannot occupy the same space, Holy and Unholy cannot co-exist.
After a bit of searching on the Internet, a video was found in which the
minister relates a Supernatural event where he saw a short pillar of fire and
when he would touch it, the pillar appeared electrically charged. Then God
told him to get in the pillar and as he entered into the pillar he shook violently as he was transported to
heaven as this was a “portal” to heaven he said. Well, anyone who watched
the old X-Files TV series saw exactly what he described although their “portals”
(as they were called in the show) where invisible, but the same shaking occurred
when they stepped in them and were transported. There is more though, when he appeared in
heaven he was on an operating table where someone took a power saw and sliced
him open from neck on down and all his guts popped out all over the room.
If that were not enough, he claims he was then stuffed with little gift wrapped
boxes. Could anyone really believe this experience was of God?
Further research on this revival leader reveals another video clip where he claims
he asked God why there did not seem to be a move of God in the meeting. He
claims God told him it was because he had not “kicked the woman in the face”!
Yep, almighty, Holy God supposedly told him that the elderly lady at the end of
the platform needed to have her face kicked before God would to move.
You would think that anyone who saw these videos would run away from this
person, but it is amazing how many people have flocked to set at his feet to
obtain this “Strange Fire”, and this includes many pastors and ministry leaders.
Wake up people!
Example of Holy Laughter
In another example, there was a move that ran through the churches a number
of years ago, where the primary focus was on an act of the Spirit called “Holy
Laughter”. There was a minister I watched for a number of shows that were
broadcast on a Christian TV station. This man would come to the platform
and tell some stories which had funny spots in them and would cause people to
laugh a little as to prime the pump. Then after a bit, he or others on the
platform would start to become a bit more involved in laughter which caused the
audience to laugh even more. During this time he might claim that the move
was there and for people to embrace it or something along those lines and more
and more people would laugh. This laughing would continue for some time
and if it slowed, it always seemed he could call someone up from the audience,
which would conveniently work perfectly with the minister to get people laughing
more.
Well, we believe that the Spirit can move in what is called “Holy Laughter”
at times when a person is set free from a burden or something like this, as a
cleansing experience resulting in the person feeling free and full of joy, but
not as entertainment, only as the name suggests a “Holy” act of God. This
clearly not the case in these meetings, it would be hours of people laughing and
looking at each other laughing at each other all the more.
In one session, the minister went to a couple of guys in the audience and
talked with them. It really seemed like the situation was fake and
appeared the two were just bad actors. The two along with the minister
seemed to keep trying to make the point that they have never met nor did they
know each other. The two acted as if they were tough and arrogant as they
were slouched down in their seats while everyone else was sitting upright.
In just a few minutes after much of the “I have never met you stuff” was over,
they became subservient and claimed they wanted what this minister had. While I
would never want to accuse someone’s salvation as being fake, in this situation
it was not believable at all, you would had to see it to know what I mean.
The clearly looked like a plant in the audience, those paid to perform.
Even after the two guys, I still did not throw in the towel just yet. I
could be wrong, maybe it happened to only appear as a meeting of flesh, there
were a number of top TV ministries embracing this movement and the minister. Not
wanting to put God in a box, I continued to follow this a bit more. Then
the slam-dunk happened, he had called a number of people that were heavy into
laughter up on the platform. One of these fell to his knees and then on
his belly and began to pray to God. You would think this is a good thing,
but the minister kicked the guy in the shoe and told him to stop praying, this
was not a prayer meeting, but a time for laughter.
That was the last straw, a minister that was experiencing a supposed move of
God forbidding a person from praying is not acceptable. Even the way the
minister said it, made him sound like he was belittling prayer. I cannot
imagine God ever telling someone to laugh and not pray. It is these little
signs that appear to be Unholy that should trigger your alarms. You add
this to the other warning signs and it should make you want to stay far away.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands were taken in by this over the few years it
swept through.
What are you talking about “Strange Fire”?
We often associate the “Holy Spirit” and “Fire”. Such as on the day of
Pentecost in the book of Acts, when the flaming cloven tongues of fire appeared
to rest on their heads as sign of the Power of the Spirit. Then there is
the reference in Luke where John the Baptist said the Lord shall baptize them
with the Holy Spirit and Fire. There is the mention in Jeremiah “His Word
was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones”. We have Elijah
praying and fire to come down and consuming the offering on Mount Carmel to show
the people the Power of God. And of course, in two more examples, we have
the Burning Bush that Moses spoke to God and the Pillar of fire and Pillar of a
Cloud by day that lead the Children of Israel for 40 years. And in Exodus
24, it says when Moses was with God for a length of time his face glowed and
scared the people.
In Leviticus 6 the Scriptures talk about a special fire which would burn on
the altar and never be put out. This was the fire which was used to make
offerings and to burn incense before God. In Leviticus 10, we see that the
sons of Aaron did not use this fire of the altar, but rather, they used “Strange
Fire”, or in other words, fire that is not Holy unto God, rather a common fire
to burn incense before God. Big mistake, a fire went out from God and
devoured them.
It is this reference to “Strange Fire” we refer to a fire that is not Holy
unto God, which does not come from God. In Revival or Awakening, we would
say “Strange Fire” for those that claim to be of God, but are not rooted in the
Holy God of the Bible. It does not mean they are demonic, but may just be
manifestations of the flesh, where they are driven by pride, greed or lust for
power over people. Some may even use the power of suggestion to manipulate
people.
The question comes up though, at times there appears to be valid miracles in
some meetings even with a false leader. How does that happen? Well,
it really is not too much of a surprise as God’s language is Faith. If a
person is at a meeting, believing what he is seeing is real, it may be just that
extra push in their faith that allows them to receive from God. That does
not mean the meeting was of God, but rather, the person who received had the
faith to believe.
Another question that might come up is, why are these allowed by God to
continue. While I cannot say for sure, I believe they may be allowed to
"prove" the people, a time of testing. There is a passage:
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a
sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto
thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us
serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ~ Deu 13:3
Holy Fire only please!
Yes, we truly believe in the Power of God and yes, we believe that we as
believers have access to this power. We believe the Gifts of the Spirit
are for today and should be active where believers gather. Our primary
restriction is that want ONLY the power that comes from God, we do not want to
see people work in the flesh and pretend to be under the control of the Spirit.
We believe that when the flesh manifests, it offends the Holy Spirit and hinders
the moving of God in a meeting.
We would rather have a meeting where nothing happened, but all sought God in
prayer and worship than to have one with people acting out in the flesh.
Acts of the flesh will only hinder God and possible damage the faith of some or
at least cause some to no longer desire to come to meetings. We need the
Power of God or nothing at all.
Yes, we need to keep an open mind and not put God in a box. I am sure
people were a bit confused when Isaiah came to meeting completely naked and
stayed that way for three years as a sign. Then there was Ezekiel and all
the things he had to do as a sign. Many of today’s churches would have
thrown them out pretty quickly. While we need to have an open mind, we
need to make sure our brains do not fall out, we need to retain some common
sense and see if the things line up with the Word of God and if they show the
character of God.
The overall Body of Christ in this world today is suffering from the works of
the flesh and lack of knowledge. Many people have been trained to believe
all kinds of strange stuff that is not of God. Others do not believe that
God still does anything other than waiting to come and take control that the
Power of God is not for us anymore. These are all lies, we need to bring
the truth back to the Body, but the only way this is possible is through the
Power of the Living God!
To this goal is the directory of believers on The Awakening. It is a
simple method for those who believe the Body needs to be awakened and that this
takes serious personal sacrifice and dedication, not for reward, but for a
closer walk with God, an intimate walk where we follow His every move. We
need to be charged up on His Word and have expectation of the Holy Gifts of the
Spirit to function through us, bringing forth this Awakening, which the end
result is a Body of the Christ that is fully equipped and moving under the
direction and Power of the Head, Jesus. The Body should clearly be
manifesting the same and greater actions as when Jesus walked on this earth.
Souls should be saved, people healed, there should be provision for every good
work and a unity in the Body as never seen before, everyone working together in
love with following thought the Holy Spirit, the leadership of the One true
Head, Jesus!
It is time for The Awakening! At the very least on a personal level for all
those who feel the call, but it must be a REAL Awakening, not Strange Fire!
Watch out for those that wish to deceive! Check , research and double
check to make sure and never ignore a warning sign, when the Holy Spirit puts a
check into your heart, do not ignore Him as He may not mention it to you
again and you may find yourself taken for a ride!