“For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household” or church (1 Peter 4:17). “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Heb. 5:14).
This season may last for a decade or two longer. God is patient. He waited forty years for the older generation to die off in the wilderness before the younger generation entered the Promised Land (Num. 14:29-35, 32:13).
May God judge and purge his Son’s church, so we can live in more wisdom and clarity and righteousness.
But can the church be corrected and spare itself from God’s judgment? Are the leaders teachable? Can the people sitting in the pews follow Hebrews 5:14 and distinguish between good and evil, truth and falsehood?
This post is a convenient summary of longer posts at this website.
If you want more details, click on the links below each numbered point.
This post has a companion piece:
The Leftward Drift of the Church Must Be Stopped
Let’s begin.
I.. Bad Doctrines and Practices
A.. List of them
1.. The authority of Scripture is optional.
If any leader denies the full authority of Scripture for life and morals and doctrine—setting aside the debate between inerrancy in all its parts and infallibility in its doctrine and practice—is not doing the will of the Father. Jesus had a very high view of Scripture, saying David spoke by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 22:43). Obedience to Scripture and Jesus’s teaching is not optional. Though he came to fulfill the OT, he also said it’s a bad idea for teachers to tell people to break them. This is especially true of moral law, which has been imported into the New Covenant.
3 Authority and Inerrancy of the Bible
The 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
2.. Progressivism
Progressivism is infiltrating and destroying the church, little by little, and now rapidly. Advocating for favorite progressive doctrines and doing them is to practice lawlessness and will deserve the sobering words: “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness! I never knew you!” (Matt. 7:23). Judgment is coming.
The solution is to preach grace and moral law.
Progressivism Is Bad for the Church
The Earliest Disciples Did Not Practice Modern Communism or Socialism
14 The Church and Postmodernism
Postmodern Roots of Leftist Policies
General and Special Revelations and Moral Law
Begin a series on Postmodernism and the Bible, here:
1. Postmodernism and the Bible: Introduction
3.. Christian Nationalism
Let’s now go in the opposite direction from Progressivism.
a.. Influencing government
Yes, America was founded on Christian principles, but we also have the First Amendment, which promises religious liberty. Christian Nationalists push to make law conform to Christian principles. I concede that if a Christian Nationalist persuades a political party to vote for a particular bill, then he used persuasion, and this is reasonable and permitted. He did not use coercion with a militia behind him.
b.. No to imposing religious restrictions
However, some leaders wish to restrict other religions, like Roman Catholics putting a statue of Mary on a platform and carrying her in their parades. Though I would never honor Mary in that way, once again, we have the First Amendment, so it must be allowed. Jefferson said a man can worship no god or twenty of them. Just don’t pick his pocket or break his leg. In other words, if a religious practice does not infringe on my liberty in practical ways, then on what political grounds do I stop it, in the American Republic, the land of liberty?
Its leaders seem confused and radical one moment and reasonable the next. Either way, I cannot join such a complicated and disorganized movement.
c.. Patriotism = gratitude
To me, gratitude for one’s country adds up to patriotism. I am grateful to God for the country I live in, but I don’t take things farther than that. I personally do not put the two terms Christian and Nationalism together. I prefer just being a grateful citizen of the American Republic, without joining a controversial movement. I like simplicity.
Observations on New Apostolic Reformation and Christian Nationalism
I am a Christian ‘Kingdomist,’ Not a Christian Nationalist
4.. Dominionism, Seven Mountain Mandate, Kingdom Now!
These three doctrines and practices are tied to Christian Nationalism.
a.. Dominionism
Dominionism says that Christians should take dominion over society in politics and culture, bringing them in alignment with biblical laws.
b.. Seven Mountain Mandate
The Seven Mountain Mandate brings more focus than Dominionism does. Christians are called to take over politics and culture in seven areas: religion, family, education, government, media, arts/entertainment, and business. (I have to ask where the medicine mountain is, but this is a summary post.)
c.. Kingdom Now!
Kingdom Now! is another term for taking over society by bringing the kingdom of God down to earth by human effort. Yes, the kingdom Jesus inaugurated is already here but only in part, and not yet fully–the “already and not yet” of the kingdom. Kingdom Now! advocates want more and more of the “already here.” They cannot wait patiently for the Second Coming, which is the only time the kingdom will be here completely and powerfully and eternally.
d.. Wisdom
I heard a solid podcaster (John Mark Baker) say a wise thing. A goal of the Seven Mountain Mandate is to take over one of the mountains: government. But if political Christians did take it over, they would not punish certain Christian criminals but restore and turn them loose on society. Many Christian leaders who believe they are wise are actually fools. Don’t let them near the reins of government power.
Observations on New Apostolic Reformation and Christian Nationalism
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
5. New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)
This point is related to the next one about false apostles. The NAR Movement needs to be left behind. The man or men who started it had no mandate from God, nor do those who keep it alive. How do I know this? They did not follow Scripture in defining what an apostle is. They defined it too broadly. Now the floodgates are open to all sorts of apostles who are popping up everywhere in American Christianity and elsewhere around the globe, poisoned by American Christianity. Confusion and arrogance. Everyone needs to stay in their lane. Then the self-deception and demonic attacks will diminish.
Analyzing the New Apostolic Reformation
Review of C. Peter Wagner’s Book ‘Churchquake’
Review of Joseph Mattera’s Book ‘The Global Apostolic Movement and the Progress of the Gospel’
6.. False apostles everywhere
This false doctrine and practice flows out of the previous point about the NAR. I see all of the movements to restore apostles in a Second Apostolic Age as a danger to the church. The rapid, numerical growth of apostles and apostolic leaders sows confusion and deception and self-promotion, because the promoters do not do sound exegesis and therefore do not base their definitions on the strict and narrow biblical view of apostle and apostolic. Maybe if they did proper exegesis, they would have to renounce their apostleship (I would hope).
Worst of all, today’s apostles are setting themselves up without a commission from the risen Lord and without reading Scripture more carefully. They have “extraordinary authority” without earning it, biblically. They are in danger of deceiving themselves and large swathes of the church.
Jesus to the church at Ephesus:
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. (Rev. 2:2, NIV, emphasis added)
7.. False prophets everywhere
They rock back and forth on the platform and appear to go into a trance when they prophesy. They refuse to judge their own prophecies or teach God’s people to judge these prophets’ prophecies (1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess. 5:21). They affect their voices with a quiver and a vibrato, for extra pathos.
They say weird things, like they know what Charlie Kirk and Queen Elizabeth II are doing in heaven. God told one of them. They take trips up into heaven regularly and see a T-Rex and a mountain of Jell-o. They talk with people who have passed on (necromancy). They tell us that the names of winning horses and jockeys in the Kentucky Derby have social and national meaning. They claim they can prophesy over everyone in a room, not understanding how risky it is to force God’s hand. They cannot prophesy at will. No. The Spirit distributes the gift of prophecy, as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11).
They are accountable to no one, especially the ones on YouTube, unless it is to a few compliant yes-men.
Reject all of the YouTube prophets. Keep prophecy inside a church, where people are instructed to judge all prophetic words (1 Cor. 14:29; 1 Thess. 5:21).
Review of C. Peter Wagner’s Book ‘Apostles and Prophets’
Review of “7 Simple Ways to Test Prophecy” by Joshua Lewis of Remnant Radio
8. Hyper-charismatic pastors and evangelists
Yes, the gifts of the Spirit, like tongues and prophecy, are still in operation today.
But hyper-charismatics shriek and freak, dance and prance, and yell and sell the gospel. One commenter on a Facebook post came up with this alliteration: “proud preachers, prancing prophets and perverted predators!”
The calmer ones teach the dumbest things, like astral projections, flying up into heaven to battle principalities and powers. They teach that you have to travel back in time to forgive, rather than just forgiving people who abused you in the past. They teach the courts of heaven, a complicated Gnostic doctrine. No, just approach God’s throne of grace boldly and confidently (Heb. 4:16). They teach that powerful Christians will not have gray hair or ageing faces, because they have defeated an evil spirit of death. Never mind that Scripture honors age and gray hair:
Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained in the way of righteousness. (Prov. 16:31)
They call evil good and good evil and get confused about what is light and what is dark (Is. 5:20). This happened at Daystar’s Joni Lamb’s memorial service, on May 18, 2026, when Jentezen Franklin inappropriately called out the exposure ministries for criticizing Joni’s and Doug Weiss’s adulterous marriage. But consider this. John the Baptist lost his head for denouncing Herod Antipas who had taken his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias (Matt. 14:1-12). Franklin was wrong, and the exposure ministers are right. He was confused about good and evil and darkness and light.
Hyper-charismatic ministers and evangelists believe God has to obey their decrees: that is, it works out to their becoming gods, and as if God lost his throne. (See below, for Decreeing)
The basic principle or characteristic that defines hyper-charismatics is their twisting of Scripture and showing off their strong personality, which they confuse with an anointing, to the dazzlement of the crowd. Watch out for it.
Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
Be Balanced and Avoid Hyper-Teachings
2 Miracles: Warning! Discernment Needed!
God’s Signs and Wonders versus Satan’s Signs and Wonders
Ancient Heresy of Gnosticism and Its Postmodern Teachers
9.. Novelties and Gimmicks
Novelty and hot trends are a huge source of deception. We live in the nation of Disneyland and Disney World (and lesser-known amusement parks), Silicon Valley, NASA, military technology, Wall Street, Hollywood, thousands of new inventions, and thousands of startups. There is nothing wrong per se with innovation in those listed areas.
However, the church should not absorb these fast-paced innovations and trends. We should influence culture morally and spiritually, not the other way around. Novelty that drifts from Scripture is wrong. The “First Church of Disneyland” is too far. Maybe we should do a new thing, which is to return to the old thing–the Bible. But it cramps their style. They ignore it, except for passages that please them.
Doctrinally I have observed teachers who appear to feel pressure to come up with the most surprising interpretation of Scripture, each one more surprising than the last one. I recall one example years ago. Why did David pick up five new stones from the nearby stream (1 Sam. 17:40). Five is the number of grace! Of course!
How about we return to the plain and main truths of Scripture?
Sixteen Characteristics of a Healthy Church
Sixteen Characteristics of an Unhealthy Church
2 How to Begin Interpreting the Bible
10.. Decreeing
God alone decrees. We pray to God, and then we command healing and diseases and demons in our jurisdiction down here on earth, towards people right in front of us. We can certainly issue the command, “Be healed!” But even our commands must submit to God’s will and sovereignty (1 John 5:14-15). We’re not powerful enough to decree. Not in our bailiwick. We do not become gods and boss the true God around.
Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
Watch God Work When We Pray, Command, Believe, Receive.
With Faith Command Your Obstacle to Go. Then Watch God Work
11.. Praying against and taking down principalities and territorial spirits in heavenly places
Ephesians 6:10-12 says that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual beings and dark, wicked forces of evil in high places. And then Paul counsels believers to put on personal armor, so they can defend themselves when the evil beings attack, not so believers can rebuke spirits in the air. The struggle is personal, not impersonal way up in the heavenly realms.
Next, an angel informed Daniel that there were territorial spirits (Dan. 10:10-14). But Daniel did not rebuke the spirits. He let God do the fighting, and God sent the archangel Michael to fight.
Instead of praying against and rebuking these evil ruling spirits in high places, Paul personalizes the spiritual warfare in the individual Christian’s life and tells him to put on the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-11; 13-17). He never tells believers to pray against these evil beings out there in the heavenly spirit realm. Paul finishes this section of Scripture with encouraging the believers to pray in the Spirit and to be alert and to pray for him. They pray to God; they do not rebuke territorial spirits (Eph. 6:18-19).
In sum, Paul taught us to put on the full armor of God, down here on our earth, in our realm (Eph. 6:10-17). Then he told us to pray for one another (Eph. 6:18:-20). That’s how we fight against ruling powers and spirits of wickedness in the heavenly realm.
12.. Platform bullying
Preachers use their platform to keep their people under control. They preach at them that they are being sifted by Satan if they think of leaving the bullies’ churches. Separate from your family members, the bullies say. Don’t listen to biblical wisdom and common sense, they say. They target individuals by name, as the individuals sit in the audience. They put pressure on people to tithe.
This is wrong. Leave their churches immediately. Don’t listen to the unbiblical curses they put on you for leaving.
2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
an undeserved curse does not come to rest. (Prov. 26:2)
True Church Leaders Do Not Lord It over God’s People
Mike Bickle and His Team v. John Wimber and His Team
True Church Leaders Do Not Weaponize Matthew 18 against Victims of Abuse
13.. Exploiting church positions of power to groom (seduce) women
These examples are multiplying. Some pastors have children by women in their churches, but the elders refuse to fire the seducers because they’re too special. But the groomers and manipulators need to be chased out of ministry, permanently.
Review of Sam Storms’ Book ‘The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets’ (offers examples)
Mike Bickle Is Forever Unfit For Ministry
My Take on the Shawn Bolz Situation
14.. Endorsing sexual misconduct.
Any leader who endorses sexual misconduct because he is “evolving,” allowing, for example, two people to live together (e.g. same-sex couples or opposite-sex couples), is a worker of lawlessness. Yes, we can be patient with these couples, as God deals with them, but to endorse or allow their unrepentant lifestyle without the truth is lawlessness.
Pastors who sexually abuse people, particularly children, are practicing lawlessness and not even close to doing the will of the Father.
Judgment is coming.
Matt. 5:28 and Adultery in the Heart
Unlawful Sexual Relations in Leviticus 18 from a NT Perspective
15.. Twisting Scripture to defend Charismatic Coverup Culture
This point is related to the previous one.
A mean and angry pastor used his pulpit to defend himself and the Charismatic Coverup Culture. He twisted Revelation 12:10 about the accuser of the brothers. The critics are not of God, he said. No, he’s wrong. The exposure ministries are using the true meaning of Scripture to uncover all the rot in the Charismatic Coverup Culture.
11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Eph. 5:11)
Pastor Landon Schott Cares More about the ‘Abusers of the Sisters’ than the Victims
Mature Disciples Do Not Make Excuses for Unsound Christian Leaders
16.. Restoring repeat offenders (wolves) to ministry
This point goes along with the previous one. They can be restored to their relationship with Christ and fellowship in a church, but not to ministry. Very few exceptions exist. Do we restore child predators back into the nursery? No! They cannot be trusted, no matter how loudly they proclaim they repented and were healed through counseling and miraculous, divine intervention.
Restoring Fallen Church Leaders to Ministry?
Mike Bickle Is Forever Unfit For Ministry
“Wham!” “Click–it’s over!” My Review of Danny Silk’s Book ‘Culture of Honor’
17.. The ‘phenomena’
They are outlandish displays, like writhing around on the ground and barking, roaring (and other animal noises), and the laughing fits. Nowadays, some Pentecostals are jumping around from pew to pew. They are sometimes called ‘manifestations,’ which is different from the true definition in 1 Corinthians 12:7.
If we are permitted to judge prophecies without treating them with contempt (1 Cor. 14:29 and 1 Thess. 5:21), then surely we can judge these physical manifestations. If leaders do not clarify this issue, then people will be confused. Satan will also infiltrate the churches and prompt people to act strangely or exotically. Leaders and the people must be vigilant.
Anaheim Vineyard and the ‘Phenomena’
Biblical, Physical Responses to Worship, and How to Judge Charismatic ‘Phenomena’
18.. Hyper-faith
Yes, faith is biblical: “Your faith has made you well.”
But another teaching, which is called Word of Faith, which I call Word of Hyper-Faith, is erroneous because it claims faith itself is an impersonal force. God wants everyone healed, every time they ask. The teachers falsely tell us the kingdom has come in such great power that people always get healed. Kingdom now! They misdefine “the already and not yet” of the kingdom and focus on the “already here, right now!” But if a person is not healed, then he did not have enough faith and did not call down the kingdom come hard enough.
The hyper-faith men teach that the sick person has to lie: “I don’t have cancer. I have a healing!” This skips over God’s sovereignty and just plain Bible-based wisdom and common sense. Remember, Luke, the author of the Third Gospel and the Book of Acts, was a “beloved physician” (Col. 4:14). If people are not healed immediately, they should go to the doctor’s office.
Be Balanced and Avoid Hyper-Teachings
Why Doesn’t Divine Healing Happen One Hundred Percent of the Time in This Age?
Does God Want to Heal Everyone Every Time They Ask?
Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker
.19.. Hyper-prosperity
Yes, prosperity is legitimate if someone owns a business and God blesses it (Deut. 8:18).
But it should not come by a ministry platform like TV when a preacher twists Scripture to enrich himself. Now he lives in conspicuous luxury, while the people who sent him money on the false promise that God will enrich them too live ordinary lives, just as they did before they gave. Or worse, they’re now broke. One tithe teacher, now fallen from ministry, said God’s people are under a curse for not tithing, based on Malachi 3:8-11. But God’s people are never under an Old Covenant curse (Gal. 3:13).
Therefore, any leader who lives an extravagantly wealthy life from the donations of Joe Factoryworker and Jane Shopkeeper is greedy and is a worker of lawlessness. He is not doing the will of the Father. Prosperity is biblical; becoming wealthy by good business practices is also biblical (1 Tim. 6:17-19). But Christian leaders manipulating and pressuring Joe and Jane to give and then living in massive houses and owning conspicuously luxury items that Joe and Jane could never afford is wrong.
Generosity in the New Testament
Disciples Live in Unity and Generosity
Why Tithing Does Not Apply to New Covenant Believers
Be Balanced and Avoid Hyper-Teachings
Apostle Paul Traveled on Cargo Ships
20.. Hyper-grace
Grace is certainly biblical. God empowers us with it to overcome sin.
However, any leader not obeying Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and the rest of the Gospel (and depending on God’s power and grace to help him) is bound for a crashing fall. This obedience to his teaching includes righteous living and actions. The hyper-grace teachers are revealing themselves to be workers of lawlessness. Yes, God is willing and loving enough to work with our failures (as he does mine daily), but our repentance must bring forth works worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20), sooner rather than later. Any leader who says repentance is not so important is also a worker of lawlessness.
8 Righteousness of the Kingdom
21.. Multi-Level Marketing
Pastors and their wives recruit members of their church to sell a product, and the money trickles upward to the founders or starters who get rich. The salespersons recruit other salespersons “downline,” and then get a commission from their new recruits. The ones at the top of the pyramid or start of the whole thing profit the most.
Run from a church that practices MLM. The leaders are greedy and manipulative and lost the vision of what God’s Son’s church is all about.
Disciples Serve God over Mammon (Money)
22.. Invented Numerology
They take advantage of certain numbers that have true biblical meaning, like seven or twelve. This gives them permission to fabricate significance from silly numerical sequences. Thus the Jewish year adds up to a hidden meaning. On a special day or year, like 2020, they scour the Bible for verse numbers. In 2 Chronicles 20:20 King Jehoshaphat said to have faith in the LORD’S prophets. No wonder the “numbers guys” liked it. It is mostly prophets who promote this nonsense. They got lucky with that year (yes, I wrote “lucky”).
Ignore them. Just stay with the plain and main teaching of Scripture.
23.. Enneagram
It is wrong to depend on it. It can be inaccurate. Some Christian apologists say it has a dubious origins.
Denying Enneagram does not invalidate psychology tests given by credentialed counselors.
B.. Basic Solutions
1.. Whole counsel of God
One solution is to teach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) and follow Jesus in his balanced ministry of teaching and helping the needy and healing the sick and expelling demons.
2.. Dying to self daily
Another solution is that these preachers and deceivers need to die to self daily (Luke 9:23). They have allowed their ego needs and greed to run away with them. They need to leave the ministry, too.
3.. Scripture and basic theology
Scripture is still infallible and authoritative. They cannot pick and choose by their own tastes. “I like this verse, but not that one!” They need to learn how to do a clear and balanced exposition of Scripture and study basic doctrine. No, I’m not asking them to become professional theologians (I’m not). Just know the basics.
Begin a series here:
Introduction to Concise Theology
4. People of God need to grow up
However, I’m not sure the leaders can be reformed. They make too much money and love the cameras. So the longest-lasting solution is for God’s people to grow up, eat solid food, get training, and then use constant discernment to spot good and evil.
Let me quote the verse I began with:
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Heb. 5:14)
Maybe this website can help by God’s grace, beginning with this post you’re reading right now.
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