Lying signs and wonders – gold dust and jewels

I found this article on a very interesting blog by Paul Gowdy, a former pastor at the Scarborough Vineyard, (the daughter church to the Toronto Airport Vineyard Christian Fellowship) who has since realised he was decieved by lying signs and wonders: http://jude23.wordpress.com/2007/04/29/lying-signs-and-wonders/

 ‘Concerning the phenomenon of gold dust falling upon people or gold fillings appearing in the mouths of people attending the various meetings associated with the counterfeit revivalists.  It has recently been suggested to me that there is indeed a biblical warning against such occurrences.  Act 17:29  Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.  

True, the people espousing this modern phenomenon are not saying that the gold or precious stones are like God but only that they are signs from God! Amongst the counterfeit revivalists the gold is taken as a sign of the favour of God or as confirmation that the Lord is indeed moving in the midst of the services.  Recently there have been claims of precious stones, gems, appearing in the services and then suddenly disappearing.  Again, these signs are taken as from God to confirm the teaching or ministry that is unfolding in the midst of such services.  Personally, I do not doubt the validity of such signs for I believe we live in a world where the spiritual realm interacts with the physical realm. True, they could be bogus, but the bible teaches that there are two sources of spiritual power in the world. One is by far the greatest and that is the power of the Lord God Almighty.  The other source of spiritual power is the power of Satan and his minions. There is no third option as far as the bible is concerned.  All power beyond the natural realm stems from one of these two sources.  The Bible teaches that Satan is a liar and the Father of lies.  John 8:44  You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.   This was his first action when he appeared in the pages of Holy Scripture   Gen 3:4-5  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  5  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Someone once said every time you drive past a graveyard look inside and remember that Satan is a Liar! Aside from this the opposite is true concerning God.  God cannot lie!  Scripture declares this as impossible for Him.  Heb 6:18  so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  Jesus declares himself as the truth:   John 14:6  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  The Scripture also speaks of the Word of God as truth.  John 17:17  ‘Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.’   So absolute truth is found in two sources one is the Lord Jesus and the other is the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God! Therefore when we come back to the signs appearing at the counterfeit revival meetings,  these signs seem to validate the teaching coming forth from such meetings. If these signs of gold and precious stones are from God, as is suggested then the teaching from the preachers, prophets and apostles who are leading would have to be truth.  For as I have shown from scripture God cannot lie.  He is the truth and so is His word. The next question that arises then is:  Is the teaching coming forth from such meetings true?  Does it stand up to the scrutiny of scripture? If the teaching in such meetings is not biblical then the signs must be from Satan,  for God could never approve of what is false!  But the opposite is true of Satan. He is in his perfect environment where lies abound and I am convinced that in such an atmosphere it is very easy for his kingdom to demonstrate with lying signs and wonders in order to deceive the elect. Mat 24:23-24 ’ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.   For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.’   The bible teaches that just before the Lord returns there is to be an increase in signs and wonders that will lend themselves to the deception, if possible of the very elect.  The Antichrist arises in such an atmosphere!  2Th 2:9-12  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12  in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.   To know the source of such supernatural activity all one needs to know is if the Scriptures are being taught accurately.  The fact that God nowhere in scripture confirmed his word with such strange manifestations ought to be concern enough.   We can never trust our feelings in such matters for the bible tells us:    ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?’ Jer. 17:9   Therefore the old saying  “ I just know it in my knower” sadly is not going to cut it! Jesus stated    “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Mt.6:24   I find it of interest that what seems to be appearing are the treasures of this present world,  gold fillings in the teeth, gold dust and precious stones.   These appeal to the flesh and greed in the hearts of men.  I believe we live in perilous times and that Satan has infiltrated the Church and many are wandering along on a road to destruction. ‘ (Paul Gowdy)Edited comments to this article from Paul Gowdy’s site…

‘The response that I got from my peer group was, especially if experienced by them was, “how could it not be God.” Because it had been given to them and provided immediate gratification, they found it implausible that they could have been the victims of a lying sign and wonder straight from hell.These same people claim verbally that they could never be deceived, their faith was so solid. I don’t think I could ever speak those words and pray that I never will, since the word of God tells me that “even the very elect will be deceived.” I do not believe there is any one beyond deception. Look at the apostle Peter. The leader amongst the twelve, he demonstrated signs and wonders and brought the gospel first to the gentiles by visiting Cornelius! Yet he fell into deception by stepping back from the gentile believers and only hanging with the Jews. Paul had to rebuke him to his face!

If the apostle Peter can fall into deception then any of the church can. There but for the grace of God go I! 

A testimony of a former New Ager:‘The first time that I saw gold filling in teeth was back in the late 70’s when I was a graduate student at a New Age center for healing through the occult arts. An old-time new age christian evangelist named Brother Willard Fuller came for an intensive 5 days to teach the bible and introduce the “gifts of the spirit” which he said anyone can have if they just asked. He was invited because of the particular ‘power’ he operated in. He did teach on the bible beginning in genesis and did teach about Jesus. I don’t remember much of the teaching except for the miracles that this Jesus did. I was interested in this particular training since Jesus was my spirit guide and I wanted to know more about him. At the end of the 5 days there was a “healing service” where he layed hands on people and gold would manifest in their mouths. I didn’t get gold but my teeth became a brilliant white ( for about a week afterwards).I was amazed by this type of power although my teacher, Eva, who was a shaman / healer and trans-medium ( channeled a spirit that would fortell and speak hidden “wisdom”) could do some pretty amazing things. I hadn’t seen anything like this that so titilated my flesh. I wanted this power that was in his name- Jesus. As a result, I bought a bible and began to study it on my own to find out more about this jJsus that I could be exactly like.. and operate in the same power.

At one point a crystal manifested before my eyes, floated then dropped to the ground at my feet. My teacher said that this was a gift from my “spirit guide – Jesus” and was to be kept on me always as a source of power.

Through the amazing grace of God I met the real Jesus alone in my apt while studying scirpture and He saved a poor wretch like me. After 7 years of studying to be a new age healer I became a Christian with the sincere desire to follow only Him. I burned all my amulets, books tapes etc renounced and repented. The mask came off of my spirit guide to reveal a monster demon.

The first church that I decided to attend was a Word of Faith church that was appealing because the pastor’s wife was a “prophetess” and they were seeking after ”true miracles”- signs and wonder. Now I could experience the “power“ ligitimately because I was a christian and it must be from god. During my 7 years at this church, I grew in the healing arts of christianity and got ‘drunk in the spirit’ alot through the ministry of Joe Jordon. We grew in flakiness and twisting of scripture and many lives became shipwrecked. The pastors divorced and the wife started working for the psychic hotline and her sister now reads Tarot cards.

Sooo after joining a vineyard church I was hesitant when our pastor insisted that we go to Toronto for “the Blessing” since I thought the whole laughing thing was off( because of Joe Jordon) but you get swept in this and think that “how could so many people be deceived’? ” I want what they are experiencing.. I don’t want to miss out on a possible move of God.. I want to see real signs and wonders, etc, etc… ” But the sin of self/idolatry and desire for “power” and to be like god (gen.3) is so strong that you are blinded. When I heard of the gold dust and fillings I had a distant check but thought well it must be God if it is coming through Christians to the church.

I began to see such similarity to my training in the new age from inner healing , body healing, visualization, meditation, body sensations, disguised shamanistic rituals and beliefs, divination , etc. that I was convinced that Jesus in very soon coming back for all religions are converging into one.

After getting out of the river we began to read the bible with new understanding The Holy Spirit really started to highlight scripture and teach us with a new understanding and in context.

Jesus said to His disciples when they asked in Mathew 24:3-4 ” what will be the sign of Your coming. and of the end of the age? ” Jesus’ first reply to that question was ‘take heed that no one deceives you…’ That was His first response! Wow when you think about it that was a warning to the men who knew Him well . Jesus must have known that even those who know Him well could be deceived!

I know well that satan can produce signs and wonders and much of what is being produced now through the charasmatic church is from satan. This polluted river is doing a fine job preparing the minds and hearts for the coming of the anti-christ. He IS coming back soon!

I know many people who are immersed (or should I say drowning in the pursuit of signs and wonders. It is almost like drug addiction. There is a growing need for something stronger with each experience. It does create a high. But as with drug addicts and alcoholics there is a denial. People really don’t want to look at their own sin or the harm that it is causing but would rather get high instead though the experience of “being at a conference where Jesus showed up with a sign and wonder”.

I just read about a conference called “Growing in the Supernatural” sponsored by Patricia King. There are 20 people advertized who will be speaking. I know that half of them operate ( in ignorance) in shaministic practices and with spirits of divination and sorcery. I guarantee that people who attend will have a sense of euphoria and a visitation but it will not be from Almighty God.

It is a sad thing that Jesus Christ and Him crucified-  the wonder of the cross and His resurrection is not enough! It takes faith to walk this narrow road. And many times it does not feel good and there is suffering. We become impatient and have heard for years the rhetoric from the false prophets about the coming revival and visitation “where people will be healed and the dead raised”. Slowly our eyes turned from Jesus and our future hope to “I want something now which will confirm all that the false prophets have been saying”. There is such a desire to “experience something.. anything will do that is supernatural”. That is why contemplative prayer which is based on eastern mystiscism has become so popular in the church.

May the Lord through His mercy and grace open the eyes of our friends understanding and lead them into the truth.

Please use my testimony any way you see fit. Maybe it will be just the bait on the fishing pole that will draw someone out of the river. I pray for the people I know and those I don’t who are caught up in deception….People are looking for a quick fix and solution to their everyday problems. Being obedient and following the Lord – abiding in scripture is not appealing. Hebrews 5:14 ” But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil”.

Throughout history our tendency is to idolatry. These leaders are idols who are worshipped and their teachings are the gospel ( of course backed up with the false signs and wonders) Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 10:14 to “flee from idolatry” and 10:21 “you cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons…”

I know how angry and defensive people get regarding their golden calf. The ramifications of seeing are enormous. Repentance is not popular and is almost becoming obsolete. There is nothing we can say that will open their eyes but for the work of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God…’