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Painfuljourney
Brokenhearted, Good point. All Apostles must first be prophets. So, what is a false prophet?

Here is my low-down.

We can't determine a false prophet by....

1) His works (Matt 7:15-23) Even false prophets will prophesy, cast out demons, and work wonders.
2) Whether he is perfect or not. Hello, God spoke through a donkey.
3) What they claim. (Amos 7:25) i.e. Zedekiah and Hananiah claimed to be prophets but were deceived.
4) They come in Jesus name. (Deut 18:20) (Jeremiah 14:14) "For prophets will presume to speak for God, but He did not send them."

A TRUE FALSE PROPHET

1) Will claim peace, peace and announce safety when there is none. (Jeremiah 14:13)

2) Will speak for money. (Micah 3:5 - 11) "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim 'peace'; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him." (2 Peter 2:1-3) "In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up."

3) Will lack or distort Biblical truth. (Isaiah 30:10) (Romans 16:18) "Good works and fair speech deceives the hearts of the simple." (Ephesians 5:6) "Let no one deceive you with vain words."

4) Will have Bad fruit - (Galations 5:22) (Matt 7:17-18) (Luke 6:43)

5) Will be proud, not humble. (Matt 21:5)

6) Will point to self or to the world, not Jesus. Jesus pointed to God. The Holy Spirit Points to Jesus. A true prophet will always lead people closer to Jesus, not the world.

7) Will lack calling for repentance and instead tell people what they want to hear. (Ezekial 13:10) (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

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Painfuljourney
Broken hearted - Just found some scriptural evidences to help us determine a false apostle. They are similar to that of a false prophet, but thought I would post it anyway. Someone else may be wondering.

False Apostles and How to Recognise them

Paul wrote: "For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. To our shame I say that we were too weak for that!" (2 Corinthians 11:20,21)

After Paul's departure, the Corinthian church had been infiltrated by false apostles who claimed to be better than Paul. These men claimed to be so good and so worthy, that unlike Paul, they required financial reward for their ministries. While Paul was meek and humble, these men, false apostles, seemed so powerful.

They bring people into bondage.
False apostles just want their ego needs to be met by the church. So they set standards which originate in their own thinking or worse yet in demonic deception, and impose these standards on believers as conditions of belonging. Adding law to law, they could get believers to a point where they felt so guilty, so unworthy and therefore so much more in need of the "great men" who could tell them what they had come to believe was the "narrow way" that leads to life.

False apostles tend to lay a lot of emphasis on people submitting to and obeying THEM.

The word of false apostles becomes law to the poor believers who are enslaved by them.
Such false apostles will introduce legalistic requirements outside of the Scriptures, and demand adherence. If not, well, its "my way or the highway!". They tend to exclude people who do not bow and scrape to them, so that these people may be powerfully pressured to come into line, so that they can enjoy the acceptance of their friends in the church. In extreme cases, false apostles will claim that they and their group alone are the true heirs of the biblical covenants, so that all those who do not submit to their judgments are ipso facto "outside of Christ", "lost". Both Mormons and Jehovah's witnesses (so-called) are examples of this kind of dangerous nonsense.

They exalt themselves.
Anyone who attempts to step into the office of an apostle through self-will, ambitious striving or clever politicking is in line to become a false apostle. Such a person "transforms himself into a minister of righteousness". "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ".
A person may be a Christian, and very talented and impressive outwardly, but if they yield to the sin of pride and start to position themselves in order to draw disciples after themselves, they become false. Sometimes it seems we have a mixture of the true and the false in the same person. We become false when we seek to appoint ourselves to roles that neither Jesus nor the Spirit of Truth have assigned.

They Take from You.
They used manipulative tactics to get the people to give them money. Jesus taught us that great example of washing the disciples' feet (John 13) In Matthew 25, Jesus identified with the hungry, the naked, the sick and the ones in prison, and not with the pastors and church leaders. When we serve needy Christians, that is when we are serving Christ the most. When we serve the powerful in order to advance in the hierarchy, we are still serving our own ambitions.

They boast of being Apostles.
"But what I do, I will continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles..." (2 Corinthians 11:12,13).
False apostles will boast of things so that they may be regarded as being apostles. There is a false boasting which is common to those who want to be regarded as apostles and simply don't resemble or demonstrate Christ as a true apostle does.

False Boasts of Church Planting.
Helping church planters is not "planting the church". Sometimes its hard to know how many churches a person has really planted. There is a big difference between catalysing a church plant through evangelism and a three day seminar, and doing the hard yards month after month on the ground with baby Christians. "Deceitful workers" is one description of false apostles. I can just imagine the false teachers who came to Corinth and Galatia claiming that they, not Paul, were the true fathers of the church.

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TurningPointReject
I read this post for the first time today. Thanks PainfulJourney. I am wondering: Is anyone willing to go through this list and cite specific examples of these at Turning Point Church World Outreach Center? Anyone willing to refute any of these as they apply to TPCWOC?

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Painfuljourney
Brokenhearted, Good point. All Apostles must first be prophets. So, what is a false prophet?

Here is my low-down.

We can't determine a false prophet by....

1) His works (Matt 7:15-23) Even false prophets will prophesy, cast out demons, and work wonders.
2) Whether he is perfect or not. Hello, God spoke through a donkey.
3) What they claim. (Amos 7:25) i.e. Zedekiah and Hananiah claimed to be prophets but were deceived.
4) They come in Jesus name. (Deut 18:20) (Jeremiah 14:14) "For prophets will presume to speak for God, but He did not send them."

A TRUE FALSE PROPHET

1) Will claim peace, peace and announce safety when there is none. (Jeremiah 14:13)

THE SCRIPTURES TEACH THAT THERE WILL BE A GREAT APOSTASY IN THE END TIMES, NOT A GREAT REVIVAL. TURNING POINT HAD MANY A PRAYER MEETING, FAN THE FLAME, AND SOMA CLASS DECLARING THIS GREAT REVIVAL THAT WILL SWEEP THROUGH MVILLE AND ACROSS THE LAND. (KIM BARNES SPEAKS OF IT IN THE SOMA VIDEO I PUT A LINK UP FOR A LONG TIME AGO. SHE ARTICULATES KINGDOM NOW THEOLOGY EVER SO CLEARLY...SOMETHING LIKE THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH ARE GOING TO COME TOGETHER AND THE CHURCH IS GOING TO OVERTAKE THE WORLD.)

2) Will speak for money. (Micah 3:5 - 11) "As for the prophets who lead my people astray, if one feeds them, they proclaim 'peace'; if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him." (2 Peter 2:1-3) "In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up."

SINCE INITIATING THE POSSESSING THE LAND CAMPAIGN THERE HAS BEEN UNRELENTING PREACHING ABOUT GIVING. MY FRIEND'S HUSBAND WHO LEFT AFTER THE PASTOR GOT HIS HOUSE IN ASPEN WAS SICKENED BY THE CONTINUAL SERMONS, WEEK AFTER WEEK, ABOUT MONEY, GIVING, GIVING SACRIFICALLY, GIVING TILL IT HURTS, ETC.

3) Will lack or distort Biblical truth. (Isaiah 30:10) (Romans 16:18) "Good works and fair speech deceives the hearts of the simple." (Ephesians 5:6) "Let no one deceive you with vain words."

JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS BIBLICAL, DOESN'T MEAN IT'S SOUND. SATAN'S TEMPTATIONS OF JESUS WERE BIBLICAL, BUT THEY WERE DISTORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE. WHEN MIKE PLUGS IN VERSES HERE AND THERE, PEOPLE REJOICE, "SEE! IT'S BIBLICAL!" BUT IS IT TRUE? IS IT SOUND? DOES IT LINE UP WITH THE CLEAR TEACHINGS OF SCRIPTURE? I HAVE HEARD MIKE MISUSE SCRIPTURE IN BACK TO BACK SERMONS. HIS PET APOSTOLIC MINISTRY PASSAGE IGNORES OTHER CLEAR TEACHINGS ABOUT APOSTLES AND CONVENIENTLY TWISTS THE WORD "FIRST" TO PUT THE ROLE OF APOSTLE IN RANK RATHER THAN IN SEQUENCE. HE DOES NOT HANDLE SCRIPTURE CAREFULLY. I HAVE PREVIOUSLY CITED TWO OCCASIONS (WHICH ARE NOT EXEPTIONS) IN WHICH HE PREACHED IDEAS BASED IN CARELESS READING IN ONE INSTANCE (HIS ENTIRE POINT UNRAVELLED BASED ON THAT MISREADING); THE SECOND CASE WAS WHEN HE WAS SIMPLY IGNORANT OF THE PURPOSE OF A FELLOWSHIP OFFERING AND SAID IT WAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF FELLOWSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE RATHER THAN FOR FELLOWSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE AND THEIR GOD. HE JUST WINGS IT SO MUCH OF THE TIME THAT IT'S SCARY, BECAUSE THE PEOPLE ARE SO BIBLICALLY ILLITERATE AS WELL AND DON'T KNOW TO CALL HIM ON STUFF.


4) Will have Bad fruit - (Galations 5:22) (Matt 7:17-18) (Luke 6:43)

WELL, THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL.

QUESTION: IS IT KIND AND GOOD TO TWITTER ABOUT ALL THE RESTAURANTS YOU'RE VISITING (MIKE AND CYNDI BOTH DO THIS) DAY IN AND DAY OUT AND THE HARLEY YOU'D RATHER BE RIDING WHEN MANY OF YOUR PARISHONERS ARE OUT OF WORK AND STRUGGLING TO MAKE THEIR MORTGAGE PAYMENTS AND RENT?


5) Will be proud, not humble. (Matt 21:5)

WHEN GOD OPENED UP MY EYES TO THE DECEPTION I WAS IN AT TP, MY HEARING BECAME VERY ATTUNED TO THE ARROGANCE THAT WAS FLOWING FROM THE PULPIT: BOASTING OF MINISTRY ACCOMPLISHMENTS, EXAGGERATING NUMBERS AND EXPERIENCES, AND JUST BLATANT ARROGANCE IN THE SERMONS. I WISH YOU COULD LISTEN TO SOME OF IT! SERMONS HAD PROLONGED ILLUSTRATIONS FEATURING MIKE AND HIS SPIRITUAL EXPLOITS. IT SEEMED THAT EVOKING LAUGHTER AND AMENS WAS THE AIM RATHER THAN EXALTING JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S ALL I'LL SAY.
6) Will point to self or to the world, not Jesus. Jesus pointed to God. The Holy Spirit Points to Jesus. A true prophet will always lead people closer to Jesus, not the world.

SEE ABOVE EXAMPLE.

7) Will lack calling for repentance and instead tell people what they want to hear. (Ezekial 13:10) (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

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Brokenhearted
When it was brought up in conversation recently, that one of the problems facing TP is the lack of accountability, someone told me that Mike has submitted to the authorities, and that he's not just a renegade pastor. When I asked who those authorities are, the person replied "Tony Cunningham and Casey Treat". That was telling ...

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Brokenhearted
When it was brought up in conversation recently, that one of the problems facing TP is the lack of accountability, someone told me that Mike has submitted to the authorities, and that he's not just a renegade pastor. When I asked who those authorities are, the person replied "Tony Cunningham and Casey Treat". That was telling ...

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WonderingNow
Absolutely, positively, downright ABSURD! Shouldn't a pastor be under the authority of his elder board. Practically, from a day-to-day operational perspective how can Casey Treat or Tony cunningham have a clue as to what is going on?

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WonderingNow
Absolutely, positively, downright ABSURD! Shouldn't a pastor be under the authority of his elder board. Practically, from a day-to-day operational perspective how can Casey Treat or Tony cunningham have a clue as to what is going on?