"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
(1 John 4:1)
1) Sincerity as a vehicle for the successful delivery of deception.
2) Our pressing need for perceiving not just what is presenting up front, but what is coming along on the back of it.
* * * * * * *
I have, of course, long had concerns about City Church and its disturbing "anything goes" approach to the Faith, with a great lack of wisdom and discernment being shown on the part of the leadership. They demonstrate on a local level what the Elim denomination from the top down has become, i.e. showing no distinction between the genuine and the counterfeit, and having a great willingness to play with hyper-Charismatic "strange fire" and an experiential "feel-good" Christianity which goes unchecked against Biblical standards. There's often very little difference now between attending a church or going to a rock concert. "Atmosphere" is created, emotions are whipped up, often to a frenzy, with the music in combination with the auditorium lighting conspiring to cause people to enter - usually unknowingly - into an altered state of consciousness, whereby no attempt is made to analyze the healthiness of what they are hearing and feeling. There is no room for questioning, only blindly receiving, and if they WANT it to be the Holy Spirit, then as far as they're concerned it IS the Holy Spirit! In such an unguarded environment, false spirits can easily enter and be freely accepted.
One of the big problems is that when leaders like Yang Tuck Yoong present as being sincere, this is usually taken as being sufficient in itself for ready acceptance by those they are leading, especially when they are saying exactly what the congregation really wants to hear. (As happens here in this service, re revival in Wales). But those leaders may unfortunately be sincerely deceived themselves, and that very sincerity is a weighty vehicle for passing on deception to others. Shallowness doesn't carry anything like the same weight! If perhaps we think of sincerity as an articulated lorry, a (literally!) weighty vehicle, that long lorry has two distinct components, the first being the cab unit which has the engine, gearbox, steering column and of course the driver, which pulls the whole thing along. This is what we see coming towards us first, and it could be very well driven and seem absolutely nothing to worry about. But behind it is its trailer, firmly attached, which carries the all-important payload.
If we apply that analogy to the City Church meeting, what is most visible is the cab unit of the artic. But what matters, and matters very much indeed, is the payload in the trailer behind it. And what that payload consists of is, as is so often the case, very far from obvious, and no-one seems to consider that the load being hauled might perhaps not be nutricious foodstuffs, but deadly toxic waste. And even the driver might be blissfully unaware of what he is actually hauling, what exactly it is that he is carefully distributing. Which would ironically make him the most dangerous kind of driver on the road - not because of any lack of driving skills on his part, but because of what he is an essential party to delivering. It's vital that we perceive not just what is up front, but what lies behind.
So what is Yang Tuck Yoong's cargo? We have to look very closely, but just a key few minutes' worth of his message tells us all we need to know, provided we know what to look for. It's toxic waste. The absolute giveaway is the mention that he has just come to Wales after spending some 10 days with Bill Johnson at Bethel, Redding. They are great friends. They walk together. They are agreed: as the Word says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" And this is immensely significant, for Bill Johnson is one of the most dangerous false teachers, and his Bethel "church" one of the most significant promoters of a different Jesus, a different gospel and a different spirit, on the planet today. His reference to Randy Clark of Toronto Blessing "strange fire" infamy, Roy Godwin of Ffald-y-Brenin who I've had cause to write about for promoting mysticism, and Dutch Sheets who is an "apostle" of the New Apostolic Reformation, underlines that he has enthusiastically embraced not that which is right and true, but that which is wrong and untrue. The NAR is intent on militantly pushing an entirely heretical Dominionist eschatology, where all areas of human endeavour are to be taken over by the Church (or rather what is imagined to be the Church) and ruled by (self-acclaimed) Apostles and Prophets in a "Kingdom" established on Earth PRIOR to the return of and quite independently of the King Himself. It's the exact opposite of Biblical eschatology; it is the doctrine of demons and in the spirit of Antichrist. Period. These are the people who Yang Tuck Yoong admires and aligns himself with, deluded men who are not faithful ambassadors of Christ but apostate corrupters of the Faith. Every year at Cornerstone Church in Singapore, NAR leaders like Bill Johnson are the headline speakers on the platform.
A significant tie-up has occurred between the Swansea Bible College and Elim, with the College having appointed David Holdaway, an Elim minister, as Principal. (From 7/16 to 5/17). Elim has long been corrupted by its gratuitous involvement in the Toronto Blessing's blind drunkenness; City Church has had both Bill Johnson, and Steve Long of Catch the Fire (epicentre of the TB) as guest speakers; it's sadly no surprise to find them hosting Yang Tuck Yoong and his wife Daphne, who are joined at the hip to the hyper-Charismatic movement and the NAR. Noteworthy too is that Luis Palau is due to speak there (on 26/11/17); Palau is a personal friend and endorser of the Pope, which should speak volumes as to his unsoundness! Wales is indeed being targeted for a "revival" but it is not an Awakening brought about by the Holy Spirit, but a Satanically-inspired counterfeit revival engineered by the flesh, marked by a Dominionist worldview, the false unity of ecumenism, mysticism, and the seeking of signs and wonders which is the hallmark of an evil and adulterous generation. (Matthew 12:39). It would seem that City Church is to be in the vanguard of this move of a deeply unholy spirit to cunningly take the Welsh Church completely off the narrow Way and onto the broad road that leads to destruction. The Enemy is nothing if not subtle...
"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness;
whose end shall be according to their works."
(2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
