TOUCH NOT GOD’S ANOINTED!

TOUCH NOT GOD’S ANOINTED!  Now that’s a phrase that’s been used in an attempt to keep the trouble makers quiet…

“And |David| said to his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” 1 Samuel 24:6

These words have been stretched far, far into today’s “Touch not God’s anointed” as a warning to anyone who would presume to question or rebuke an erring pastor or any other Christian leader. 

So let’s do some history on this.  In the theocracy of Israel, there were three groups of men specially chosen by God and then anointed for their offices—1. prophets, 2. priests, and 3. Kings — and God indeed “suffered no man to do them wrong” Psalm 105:14. However, all three offices were completely fulfilled in Christ. The Levitical priesthood has been abolished, and Christ is the eternal high priest.  

As far as New Testament anointing is concerned, this is now accomplished in every true believer. “Now he which . . . has anointed us, is God; Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” 2 Corinthians 1:23-22. No longer are we dependent on special instruction and guidance from priests and prophets.  Why?  Because we have the inerrant, infallible, written Word of God, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. 

“The anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him” 1 John 2:27  

Christians can, and should, learn and grow spiritually from godly teachers of the Word and faithful pastors of the flock, but all–leaders as well as learners–must continually be subject to correction from God’s Word, “neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock” 1 Peter 5:3  (So there’s a lot of teachers and leaders out there who are saying we’re not supposed to touch them (because they’re anointed), but… at the same time, they’re failing to be the example to the flock…   Mainly because their prophecies are consistently failing or their life styles and/or choices are anything but Christ like.) 

No, we’re not to judge each other. We’re not to grumble, murmur or complain – especially against each other.  But no leader, teacher, pastor or whomever is ever to be considered “uncorrectable”.  Each one of us is to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

Contemplative Prayer isn’t prayer at all..

I’m amazed at how easily members of the body of Christ are swallowing the in-your-face deception that keeps coming down the line.  Case in point, my own pastor.  Our church has been promoting Beth Moore “workshops” recently…  OK so Beth Moore was one of the special guest-speakers on the Be Still DVD.. that I went out and bought so I could see it for myself.  I shared the DVD as well as plenty of notes I’d taken on it with my pastor and now, three months later, we’re still waiting to see if all this info fell on deaf ears or not..

The Be Still DVD has been out for a few years.  All the extra-special Contemplative advocates (like Beth) sing the praises of the occult experience – calling it godly.  Max Lucado, Dallas Willard, Phyllis Shirer are just a few of the ones who have been so blessed by practicing it….  Yes, I’m being very sarcastic.

Speaking of deception within the body, here’s another report: From a sister-in-Christ:

A friend recently said she went back to a church she had been to long ago. The pastor was so good (!) so she returned the next week in anticipation—–only for him to ‘warn’ everyone that the internet is full of nay-sayers about emergent and then began to teach everyone in the sermon how to do Lectio Divina—which is pure evil because it’s mysticism and mysticism is very much an occult practice.

From her email: “Yesterday I attended the morning service looking foward to what the Pastor had to share. He was preaching on the Word of God and the importance of understanding Scripture. I thought, hmmm sounds good so far. Then he said something that made me bristle up a bit and pay very close attention to every word he said from that point on. He said, the Bible is not only a God book it is also a human book as well. I was like huh?  Then he proceeded to talk about some off his favorite authors, one being a man called Leonard Sweet. I began to feel really uneasy.

Leonard Sweet is one of the head leaders of the Emergent Church Movement.  Then believe it or not the Pastor said, I am going to guide you in an ancient practice called Lectio Divina. As he began to teach and guide the congregation in it, I quickly walked out and sat in the lobby. I was churning inside. And waited for the service (if it can even be called that) to end so that I could speak to the Pastor.

Afterwards, I went and spoke to the Pastor and explained my concern about the Emergent Movement, Leonard Sweet and Lectio Divina. He seemed a bit uptight but as I spoke to him I kindly smiled and he seemed to relax a bit. He asked me where I got all my information. I told him that I do a lot of reading online. He said to be careful of reading online because there are alot of fundamentalists that hate things like Lectio Divina and such. He said If I could prove to him the dangers of it, citing my source that he would gladly read and consider it. My thoughts were “Yeah right, I am a nobody and you are a trained Pastor. I am uneducated and am barely able to try to tell you that something is terribly wrong here”… I said ok and thank you for your time.

I left and will never go back there.

People outside were saying Oh what a wonderful service that was! Are they nuts or what? Do they blindly eat wahtever is offered up to them without any questions? Do they have such blind faith in the Pastor and yet not much (obviously) in the Word of God?!?!

Folks, whether you agree with this next statement or not is your choice.  I believe this entier world is undergoing the same type of birth pangs as a woman in labor.  If it’s not earthquakes or floods, it’s birds falling from the sky.  It’s as though the earth itself is saying, “Enough!” 

How many believers in Christ who have in effect ‘put their hand to the plow’ are swallowing this deception and are (instead) ‘turning back’ without even realizing it?

If you’re reading this and are one of the many who practice Contemplative prayer, please consider this post a warning to you.  It is nothing but mysticism.  It is an occult practice and is not of God.  Don’t allow yourself to believe that ‘because of the wonderful way it makes you feel, it just must be of God” — nothing could be further from the truth.

The body of Christ needs to quit assuming that everything a church promotes, a bookstore sells, a TV station airs or a friend tells you about is of God.  It is time for each and every one of us to be accountable for our beliefs.  I want to stand before the Lord one day and hear Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant!”  Because if we don’t hear Him say that, we know what the other half of that statement will be…

Never forget for a moment that contemplative prayer puts the person practicing it in direct contact with familiar spirits — nothing but familiar and unholy spirits and/or demons.   And Lectio Divina is just another name for the vehicle used to take you there if you practice it.

It doesn’t matter what branch/denomination you are.  Catholic, protestant, charismatic, any of them will do — and if you’re practicing Contemplative Prayer, you may feel like you’re ever so close to God, but it isn’t God you’re communing with when you do it.