Dr. Walter Martins Warning to the Church (1988)
If you have your Bible, if you have your Bible
I'd like you to turn with me to Acts chpt. 20. I'd like to read a few verses
from this passage which I believe are very apropos today.
Talking to the elders in the
So, Ezek. 34 is what Paul is definitely referring to. I want you to know I am
free from the blood of all mankind because I am giving you the whole counsel
take heed there unto yourselves and all the flock unto which the Holy Spirit has
made you rulers. The Greek word episcopos- a ruler to fend or tend therefore the
Now we are speaking this morning on the warnings of God, the warnings of God.
This passage tells you that after the apostles would leave the Church there
would be savage wolves, they are characterized as wolves. Ravenous wolves who
will enter in, and they will not spare the flock. Which means they will attack
the flock from without, they will penetrate the sheepfold and they will chew up
the sheep. Now that’s as clear as crystal right here. I know this after I leave,
this is going to happen.
We have those savage wolves today. We have
theologians in theological Seminaries and departments of religions of schools
who literally chew up the flock. They chew up the people who are studying for
the ministry and then they spit them out into our pulpits where they can chew us
up. These are the savage wolves who come in not sparing the flock. Apostate’s in
positions of authority in the Christian Church. Apostate’s who advocate the
ordination of homosexuals, forbidden and cursed of God. Apostate’s who deny the
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Apostate’s who will ordain you if you
deny the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the bodily
resurrection, and the 2nd coming. Apostate’s who dominate our denominational
structures and our educational institutions. Apostate’s who have come in and are
chewing up the church. That is very clearly stated here that we are to lookout
for these people. Paul said I warned you day and night for three years to the
point of tears. Very important.
Now there is a 2nd part of this that is seldom preached on because when you
preach on it people get upset in my ministry what else is new. It’s an
occupational hazard because you have to tell them the whole counsel of God.
Notice Paul’s emphasis here, "I have not avoided declaring unto you verse 27
"all or the whole counsel of God." The whole counsel of God is to warn against
the savage wolves, cultists occultists, non Christian religionists, atheistic
and skeptical philosophers, psychologists whatever they may be, who have
attacked the church from without and some have penetrated and chewed up the
church.
Now there's a 2nd warning from God, this warning is one the Church has paid very
little attention to and because we have paid so little attention to it, it has
thrived and become lethal. Why? Because what's close to you that you don't see,
it does you far more harm than something you can get in perspective and easily
identify. So let’s take a good look at what he saying here. From your own selves
v.30 you ought to mark church itself, men will arise. It does not say possibly,
could, he said will arise. They will speak contrary the meaning of the word in
the Greek, King James says perversion, the word in the Greek is contrary. They
will speak contrary things for the purpose of drawing disciples after them
selves.
So the warning of God is against people in the church in positions of leadership
and respect. Who will draw disciples surrounding themselves, whose allegiance is
not to Christ, but to that person. And they will draw the disciples after
themselves from within the church so that there is no accountability for what
they say. Now this isn't my message this is the Pauline counsel to the Church at
Now the Scripture has many statements about false teachings and false prophets.
Mat.7 gives one of the most frightening passages in all divine revelation it
says and this is the lord Jesus speaking on the subject ( --- dressed as sheep
but inwardly or spiritually you are dealing with savage wolves, you will know
them by what they produce). Now Jesus has said something else that the Church
has forgotten today. Jesus said in my name or if you want the actual meaning of
the Greek text, by my authority- name means authority.
When you say "stop in the name of the Law" to criminal fleeing, you are saying
stop by the authority of what? The law. The law says you can't do that. Stop!
When a King pronounces judgment in Old Testament times and recent times until
kings went out of fashion. In the world a ruler person would say open the door
in the name of the king….
Alright once you get that concept in you mind Jesus said there will come men who
will speak claiming their authority is from me. Now get that in your head
carefully. There will come men who will speak in my name. That is, I am
supposedly saying this to you, that is a very important phrase. There going to
come and say I'm speaking to you in Jesus in my name they will work miracles in
my name they will cast out devils… they will prophesy and preach. But when I
meet them I will say leave me I never knew you workers of iniquity.
Why? Because they use his authority and his name, because the power was in Jesus
name, or Jesus' authority not in them. And God honored the name of his Son. And
they took that as a means of teaching there own false doctrines and false
prophecies and because of that they corrupted the faith of the church. But
inwardly, spiritually, they really roooaaar! And if you don't know fleece from
fur your dinner, dumb dum. And the only way you can know fleece from fur is to
know how to test them. You don't test them by Walter Martin, or by Norman
Geisler, as good as the apologist and defenders of Christianity might be and as
much as you trust them. You don't test them by other people, you test them by
Scripture.
Then if your fidelity is the Scripture, and your allegiance is the Scripture,
you reject them! But says Paul in the last days, men are going to be drawn away
by false teachers and prophets in the church speaking in the name of Jesus. And
you’re not going to test them you’re going to go along with them. And there
gonna fragment and divide the Church because you wont' test them.
Well its about time that we test them.
Kenneth Copeland delivered the following prophecy during a three day victory
campaign held in
"You remember in my word I said to my disciples this
kind comes not out by prayer and fasting." He's talking now about the power of
prayer. He goes on "Don't be disturbed (this is Jesus) when people accuse you of
being God. The more you get to be like me God. But I didn’t claim I was God; I
just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah."
That is a lying spirit. Look at me read my lips. That is a lying spirit. That
is not the Holy Spirit. Now for ten years I have warned and I'm on tape and in
print on this. That we were heading into the kingdom of the cults with the faith
teachers. You are no longer heading there baby, you are there!
Just so you are not mistaken let me give it to you again. Jesus speaking:
"The
more you get to be like me (Jesus) the more there going to think that way of
you. They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn’t claim I was
God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah." That’s
what your doing."
Now this was on TBN this on Christian Television and radio stations. This is
tolerated by the Christian Church, particularly the charismatic wing because
they will not obey the Lord Jesus Christ and they will not obey; what the
Scripture says. They are taken by people and ministries. And by large crowds and
jet airplanes and by affluence as supposedly the seal of success. If you’re big
and you’re powerful and you’re rich and people come to hear you, automatically
it must be from God. No! Automatically it isn't from God. You’re supposed to
test what the person says by Scripture. And if you don't test it by Scripture
you can be taking in spiritual arsenic or cyanide and it can ruin your Christian
life and take your eyes off Christ. The Scripture says it will overturn the
faith in the Church.
This is far beyond doctrinal disputes. He speaks it in the name of Jesus. He's a
liar, and the truth is not in him. Isa. 8:20 "If they do not speak according to
this word they have, what? NO light in them," in fact the Hebrew says there is
no dawn.
What deceives people about these false prophets is that out one side of their
mouth they preach the gospel and out of the other side of their mouth they deny
him who is the core of the gospel. And if you don’t put the two sides together
you think you’re hearing Christianity. But you’re not!. The false prophets know
that to get crowds they have to preach Christianity. The false prophets know
that in order to have financial support they have got to get the church to
contribute to them. So they will sound like the Church and they will prophesy in
Jesus name, they will heal in Jesus name they will work miracles in Jesus name
and then at the proper they will deny him.
How do you know he's a false prophet? It’s easy he said so. I wonder if people
who read this THOUGHT! THOUGHT!
"They crucified me for claiming I was God, but I
didn't claim I was God." He didn't? That’s strange language, John chapter 8,
"your father Abraham rejoiced to se my day coming he saw it and he was glad. But
they said your not even 50 years old yet. You saw Abraham?" Jesus said,
"before Abraham came into existence I AM." And they reach for stones to kill
him. Who'd they think he was? Obviously God. John Chpt.10 "for thy Good works we
stone thee not but for blasphemy. That you being a man make yourself out to be",
Who? GOD!
Now we are dealing here with the doctrine of antichrist. And its not coming from
an apostate professor of a theological seminary its not coming from a Jehovah's
Witness that knocks on your door. It's not coming from the Mormon missionary
that peddles up. Its coming from Kenneth Copeland on your television set on your
radio and in print and if you resist the false doctrines of antichrist
elsewhere, why will you not resist here?
The answer is very simple because people hear the gospel being preached and they
automatically assume that the person preaching is a true prophet of God. No
Jesus said, the false prophets can do it. They only way you can find out is test
them. I've not avoided declaring to you the whole counsel of God for the space
of ten years. I have told you day and night to the point of rage.
Now it’s come full circle. There it is. Quote on TBN "Dogs beget dogs cats beget
cats, and God beget Gods, you are little Gods." Close quote. That’s Kenneth
Copeland on your television set. You are Gods!
No you’re not, your sinners saved by grace. And he's not a God, he's a sinner
professing to be a Christian, and denying in prophesy in the name of Jesus what
Jesus said. That’s a false prophet, I don't care how you spell it, if you say
but look at the healings, look at the meetings, look at the miracles. READ
Matthew Chapter 7, use your brains. Jesus said that’s exactly what's going to
happen, there going to preach and prophesy in my name. They do! In my name there
gonna work miracles, they do. In my name they cast out devils, they do! And then
they deny Him. Jesus said look out for them, because they’re here! And they are
here now. They are on our television sets our radios and print.
Now the question is, will you tolerate it? We should be bombarding TBN and every
Christian channel that produces and distributes this stuff. And we should be
telling them we will not support the doctrine of the Anti-Christ. You may not do
this with my money, and furthermore I'm not going to send any money. And then in
addition to that I'm going to actively discourage everybody I know from sending
you any money. And when you hold financial support they listen, but not until.
So I'm suggesting over the Bible Answer Man program that we start holding
support to people and ministries that do this. And I'm going to get a lot of
flak, you’re going to hear a lot of people coming after me, and I want you to
know, I could care less. This is the TRUTH, what I'm telling you is the truth
and if it is a voice crying in the wilderness it’s the truth. And the Holy
Spirit will see to it that they will listen. Because I am a prophetic voice in
this and have been for decades, of course I don't for a moment believe I am a
prophet, anymore than I believe I am an apostle. I'm a teacher, but you can
speak with a prophetic voice, you can exercise apostolic office in given
situations.
Believe me we’re in trouble, and if we don't something about really quickly your
going to be in more trouble than you know what to do with. Because people keep
accepting these as Christian representatives. What we’re getting is the doctrine
of anti-Christ. If you deny that you don't know your Bible.
Jesus says through Copeland "I never claimed to be God." That is not the Jesus
of the Bible, you want me to tell you who it is, turn in your Bible to 2 Cor.11,
I will tell you who it is. V.3 "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent
deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we
have not preached, … a different spirit … a different gospel" ….Then he goes on
to say that there are false apostles, deceitful workman who transform themselves
on the outside to look like the ministers of Christ but inwardly you are dealing
with the imitation of Satan.
I don't bring judgment or play God, that is not my role or yours. But if Jesus
Christ said it and the New Testament teaches it and it is Biblical theology and
we reiterate what the text says we are not playing God, we are being faithful to
what God said.
Is Kenneth Copeland a Christian? If he is a Christian let him repent! Let him
apologize to the church, let him forsake these false doctrines. He is not a God,
he lies when he says anyone in the Church is a God. He lies when he says Jesus
Christ gave him this prophesy, this did not come from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul calls Jesus our great God and savior Titus 2:13. Acts chapter
20 which I just read says, God purchased the Church with his own blood. Well who
died on the cross? God in human flesh and purchased the Church with his own
blood. The whole new testament declares the deity of Jesus Christ. "In the
beginning was the word and the word with God and the word was God." And Kenneth
Copeland knows it as well as I do! But he's denying it, when you take your eyes
off Scripture as the criterion for authority and you place it on experience and
on people, and on revelations, and on messages that allegedly come from God, you
are a set up for deception, you’re made for it. Because you don't have any way
to check it. But you must check it.
The title of his article is "Take time to pray." That’s the title "Take time to
pray." No take time to obey, take time to obey Christ and to obey him is to
proclaim him Lord of all. I am the alpha and omega the beginning and the end the
first and the last the Almighty Rev. 1:7-8. Who is He? "He is coming with Clouds
and every eye shall see him and he is the almighty." Well that’s what Christ
said about himself. Thomas said my Lord and my Jehovah. And worships him and
Jesus said because you have seen me you believe Blessed is they that have not
seen and believe.
Kenneth Copeland quoted every one of these verses
and then in a prophecy originating with Jesus Christ he can deny the identity of
Jesus Christ. You are now dealing with false prophets. I don’t presume to judge
the eternal destiny of men that is not our task but I will tell you one thing
Biblically speaking If you say you are Christ’s property then you have Christ’s
spirit. Romans 8:9. And whoever does not have Christ’s spirit is not Christ’s
property. Christ’s spirit does not deny Jesus Christ. Christ’s spirit exalts
him. This is a denial of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Jesus speaking "I never
said I was God, never claimed to be God." No that’s a lie, "let God be true and
every man a liar."
I want a repudiation of this and a removal of these men from the Trinity
Broadcasting Network station until they apologize to the Christian Church and
repent of this evil. And if they won’t, then it must be the task of the
Christian Church to oppose them vigorously, publicly. And tell it to the whole
Church. And read this until people can’t stand to hear it anymore. Until they
will act on it. Don’t you dare talk about fidelity to Jesus Christ, and love to
Jesus Christ and allegiance to Jesus Christ and sit by while men deny him!
You’re gonna be consistent then be consistent in obedience.
You may sit here and say "You sound very angry!" I am. I may be one of God’s
last angry men, but I’m angry for the right reason. I’m in the presence of the
doctrines of the anti-Christ and I plan to be angry that way the rest of my
life. And if you don’t hear me angry about those kinds of doctrines please come
and tell me as quickly as possible, because I have defected from the ministry.
So I’m going to ask you to covenant with me in prayer that God will bring
Kenneth Copeland to repentance for this blasphemy and there may be a open
apology and repudiation of it in the Christian Church. And then until this is
done we will remain constant in prayer and we will not support what we know to
be evil doctrine. If we do that God will bless us and honor us, if we don’t do
it were gonna reap an awful harvest.
This morning was a very difficult message to preach, the warnings of God.
Because whenever you talk this way you bound to be misinterpreted and people are
bound to think somehow or another you’ve got some ax to grind and your after
somebody’s neck. I’m not but if I sit still in the presence of the doctrine of
antichrist I’m an accessory to those doctrines and I fall under the condemnation
of Acts chpt.20.
If you go further into revelation chpt.2 later on, you will find that the Holy
Spirit commends the Church in
May God make us faithful in the tradition of the Ephesians. The lord Jesus
Christ paid the price for all sin on the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ rose
victoriously from the dead for our redemption we are saved by his life. The Lord
Jesus Christ has given us spirit so we can walk with him, he has also given us
his spirit so we might discern evil, as well as good."
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