It’s easy to criticize people, and to talk about people, and talk about how they’re missing it here and how they’re missing it there. To tell you the truth, I’ve been in the midst of it. Like Dad Hagin used to say, I’ve been criticized by professionals.
However, at the same time, even though you can recognize when things are wrong, even though you can critique the situation and see that things aren’t right in people’s lives, if we don’t do more than just criticize them, things are not going to change. If all you do is tell people that they’re wrong, nothing is going to change.
There are people that are stuck in oppression, that are stuck in depression, that are overcome by seducing spirits – in the church – that think right is wrong and wrong is right. They cannot get out of it by themselves. Why? Because they don’t take enough time to do so. Because they don’t think that they are wrong. If they don’t pray, they can’t come out of it. If they don’t seek God, the enemy will take advantage of them. That’s where the intercessor, you and I, come in and stand in the gap for them.
We want to criticize. We want to talk about this. Well I do want to point out error. But if that’s all I do, I’m not going to be effective at changing anything. And if I point out a particular error, I am not attacking one individual or any individual. I’m coming against the false doctrine that some individual may be proposing. I’m not against any human being because the Bible teaches me better than that.
However, at the same time, I’m not going along with false doctrine. I’m not going along with seducing spirits. I’m going along with the Holy Spirit and the written Word of God.
Back years ago, key leaders of the Word of Faith movement were duped and seduced by a charlatan over in Tulsa at the Mabee Center. There were some that were not involved in it, but the majority of the leaders were in some of those meetings. Back then I was just green behind the ears and I prayed about everything. You can ask my wife. I prayed about everything. We’d sit down for dinner and I would pray. Some people just say grace and blessings over the meal. Not me; I prayed for everybody, including praying over the meal. Soon I’d hear dishes clinging in the sink. She would be over there washing her dishes because she was already finished and I was still praying. Now that has changed a little bit over the years.
I would get down and pray and ask God about this woman and going to these meetings. But I wouldn’t go to these meetings. It was a charlatan over there seducing all of these people. I’m not saying that to put anybody down or to put me on a pedestal. I’m saying it because anybody can miss it if they do not pray. Don’t follow the leader unless the leader is following the Holy Ghost. Don’t follow the leader unless the leader is following Jesus Christ. Paul said I follow the Lord.
One of the key people that we all trusted introduced this lady to the Word of Faith movement. In fact, people were seduced by this charlatan until Rev. Willie George and Rev. Charles Capps got together and took the video equipment and recorded this woman preaching. They slowed the video down so they could see frame by frame and showed that this woman was doing sleight-of-hand. They made copies of this video and sent it out to people all over and you know what, people still didn’t believe them. In fact, people were mad at Rev. George and Rev. Capps. They were so seduced that they believed that this woman, who clearly was doing sleight-of-hand, was sent by God.
This woman had duped almost everybody. So I say this all to say it again, anybody can miss it if they don’t pray. It doesn’t matter if you have a track record of hearing from God over and over and over again; if you’re not praying and you’re not going according to the Word of God you can miss it.
When someone misses it, we don’t attack the person. We were taught better than that. The Bible tells us not to do that. We come against the false doctrine. We preach the truth. The only way to correct false doctrine is to present the truth. I encourage you – if we do not pray, we can be led astray.
