Sunday, January 7, 2024

"Let him be Accursed!"

Two years ago, a “prophet” who is well-known in Evangelical and Charismatic circles prophesied that soon “Angelic visitations will increase as I release My messengers with destiny messages. Revelation, understanding and enlightenment will accelerate in My sons and daughters as My DNA will be revealed inside of them” - (Emphasis in the original article). Since this was given in the first person, we are supposed to believe this was the direct voice of God or Jesus. This is a ready-made formula for deception.

I am not sure what a “destiny message” is, but the idea of angels being dispatched to bring us new “revelations” and truths does not harmonize well with the warnings of the New Testament about deceivers and deception, to put it mildly. Promoting deception in the Assembly of Jesus Christ is a serious matter with deadly consequences, for the deceived but especially for the deceiver. False prophets today are playing with hellfire. Sooner or later, they will get burned unless they repent, immediately, truly, and deeply.

Angel fake - Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash
[Photo by Duncan Sanchez on Unsplash]

I am not disputing that angels exist and do many beneficial things for believers. What is of concern are the growing claims that God is about to reveal new and wonderful truths never heard before by or in the Church.

I am not talking about new scientific or historical discoveries, but the idea that the Almighty is going to reveal truths and teachings beyond what has been revealed already in Jesus and preserved in the Apostolic Tradition, namely, the New Testament.

When Paul wrote to the Assembly in Galatia to confront false teachershe marveled that you are so quickly transferred from him that called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel… there are some that trouble you who would pervert the gospel of Christ.”

His response was to point the Galatians to the “Gospel” they received originally from Paul and his co-workers, the truth of which was so important that if anyone, “even an angel from heaven, should preach to you any gospel other than that which we preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema)!”

The English term “accursed” translates the Greek noun anathema, the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to translate the Hebrew word hérem or “ban.” It was applied to things and persons that were set aside for destruction, something that is banned, doomed for destruction, hence the idea of “accursed” - (Leviticus 27:28-29, Joshua 6:17-18).

Paul was not cursing his opponents himself but was calling on God to do so (“Let him be accursed!”). HE WAS DEADLY SERIOUSHe called on God to doom men for requiring Gentile converts to undergo circumcision. Imagine how he would react to false prophets and faux apostles who taught believers to heed demonic spirits or practice divination (“Whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh, and because of these abominations He drives them out from before you” – Deuteronomy 18:12)!

The Apostle repeated his curse formula for emphasis, demonstrating that he was not engaging in mere rhetoric. HE WAS DEADLY SERIOUS. Do we hear what Paul said twenty centuries ago and is still saying to us today from the Bible? Anything that deviates from the original Gospel must be rejected, period.

That it was delivered by a mighty “angel from heaven” or one of today’s super “apostles and prophets” makes no difference. Paul made strong and uncompromising statements that pointed to the absolute authority of the received body of Apostolic teachings.

By “traditions,” I do not mean later church creeds, councils, or other institutional traditions and practices. I am referring to the original teachings of Jesus and his Apostles (“Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone” – Ephesians 2:20).

THE MEASURING ROD


The Apostolic Tradition is the rock-solid standard for measuring the validity of any teaching, prophecy, vision, dream, “download from heaven,” or angelic message about God, Jesus, the Gospel, my “personal destiny,” or anything else. Whether the prophet, apostle or angel can perform supernatural wonders is not relevant to determining the truth or falsehood of his or her words.

Similarly, after warning the Assembly in Thessalonica about the “Man of Lawlessness,” Paul exhorted the congregation to “stand fast and hold the traditions you were taught, whether by word or epistle from us.” The Apostolic teachings were the anchor that would hold the Thessalonians in the coming storm – (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

Moreover, in the concluding section of the same Letter, the Apostle commanded the Thessalonians “in the name of Jesus” to withdraw from every “brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition which they received from us.

Paul used the Greek term ‘paradosis’ for “tradition,” which simply means “transmission” - Something that is passed on to others. Likewise, he urged the Corinthian congregation to become “imitators of me” and hold fast to the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

What are those “traditions”? There is only one collection of source documents that reveals what Jesus and his Apostles taught, namely, the New Testament. All other claims, creeds, and sources are of later origin, and therefore, secondary at best. Furthermore, all other sources and voices must be measured against the original documents written by the Apostles.

Dark clouds Photo by Justin Leniger on Unsplash
[Photo by Justin Leniger on Unsplash]

So, where does this leave us? First, we must know the Apostolic “
tradition” and make it our own. That means spending time learning the original source documents preserved in the New Testament. Second, there is no shortcut, no way of getting around this first necessity. Third, there will be no new truths revealed now or in the future that depart from the original faith. The Church already possesses the true teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

To twist and pervert the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, thereby abandoning them, means being “severed from Christ.” The consequences of doing so are horrific and even eternal.

Any supposed prophet, apostle, pastor, angel, or teacher who alters the Apostolic Tradition, or simply steers believers away from it to acquire something else in its stead, is not a minister of Jesus Christ. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Let him be accursed!



RELATED POSTS:
  • Stand Fast in the Tradition - (Two events must occur before the Day of the Lord - the apostasy and the revelation of the man of lawlessness)
  • Ignoring Scripture - (Was the Apostle Paul serious when he wrote that church elders must be above reproach?)
  • Prophetic Blunders - (When the prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh and the word does not come to pass, that is the word Yahweh has NOT spoken)