Thus Saith the Lord by John Bevere

Thus Saith the Lord? By John Bevere

This is my review of the above titled book.

Page 1: He says, “The ways God speaks to His children are various and many. I believe that His first preference is to speak directly to us.”

I have problems with the above for a couple of reasons. First, he states his own belief and that alone makes me cautious because our own beliefs can be wrong. When I dig deeper into what he says, I discover that it does not match up with scripture. God has made it clear that His #1 way of speaking to us is through His Word. He has magnified His Word above all else. (Psalm 138:2) Also, 2 Timothy 3:16 speaks of how ALL scripture is given by God and it is useful for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

Page 3: “….I was in the ministry full time, serving my pastor.” We serve the Lord. His wording on this gives me concern because we can easily get our priorities in the wrong order for prestige, recognition, power, and more.

Page 9: He is speaking of how our generation is the living in the end times. Then he says, “This will be accompanied by a harvest of souls of such magnitude it is unimaginable. It will be a time of great glory and joy.” In the very next paragraph, he starts quoting 2 Timothy 3 where it speaks of perilous times coming, and how there will be great deception.

He clearly contradicts himself in the above. So which is it? A great harvest coming? Or will there be perilous times and great deception? The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that there will be apostasy, a falling away, and deception that is so widespread that even the elect could be deceived. (Matthew 24, 2 Timothy 3)

Also, regarding the harvest of souls – this comes from the dangerous teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). This website has easy-to-understand information on their beliefs. http://www.piratechristian.com/berean-examiner/the-six-hallmarks-of-a-nar-church

Here is a website that links John Bevere’s involvement with that cult: http://www.piratechristian.com/berean-examiner/2017/1/leaving-the-nar-church-dylans-story

Page 14: Knowing that John Bevere is heavily involved in the dangerous NAR teachings, I found a quote on this page that was quite insightful. “False prophets are those who have yet to submit their lives to the lordship of Jesus. They have sought God for the wrong reasons. They serve Him for what they can get from Him rather than for who He is.”

Page 68: “In prayer I asked the Lord for His definition of covetousness.” It is dangerous to take someone’s interpretation as truth. Example: How many times have we heard stories from pastors about counseling someone who is involved in adultery? They will often say the Lord led them to this person, and the Lord told them to divorce their spouse, etc. However, based on what the Word tells us about adultery and divorce, we know this was not the voice of God speaking to them.

Page 70: “In prayer, I asked the Lord for His simple definition of contentment. In my heart, I heard….” Again, it is dangerous to take someone’s word that that Lord spoke to them. We need to line it up with scripture and use discernment. Also, another thing very common to those involved in NAR is that they focus heavily on the “experiences” and “feelings.” Notice that he said, “In my heart…” That is very experiential. It is not based on the Word of God, but his feelings about the situation. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9) They can easily lead us astray.

Page 118: “Many Americans have difficulty with kingdom principles.” NAR teachings use the word “kingdom” and “dominion” a lot. They believe they will be given dominion over seven different areas in our society before Jesus comes back. This is not scriptural (see above information on the apostasy, etc.)

I am very cautious any time I see someone using the word “kingdom” because they are often subtly pushing the NAR teachings. In fact, I started reading the Passion Translation several months ago because I liked the way it was worded. However, I began to notice the words “dominion” and “kingdom” being used frequently. When I did a search on the author, sure enough, he is heavily involved in NAR. I stopped reading that translation immediately.

Page 122: “I wanted to be in the fivefold ministry.” This is also heavily pushed in the NAR teachings, along with super apostles. They believe these new apostles will be equal to the apostles who lived in the time of Jesus, and that their authority should not be questioned. This is dangerous because if we believe someone’s spiritual authority shouldn’t be questioned, we open ourselves up to spiritual abuse.

Page 139: “God is preparing His latter-day prophetic ministers.” This statement reiterates my concerns in the above paragraph. The areas where they believe they will have dominion before Jesus comes back are in government, media, entertainment, education, business, family, and religion. This is not scriptural! I do believe we are in the end times, but do I see any indication that the church is taking dominion over any of these areas? Absolutely not! And I see a church filled with biblically illiterate people!

Page 140: He mentions Ex. 19:10-11, and how it says that on the third day, the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of the people. He goes on to speak of how one of God’s days is a thousand of our years. He says, “For two days, or two thousand years, the church’s responsibility has been to consecrate itself for the coming of His glory. On the beginning of the third day (the third thousand-year period), He will come in His glory.” I believe this is a blatant error, for time began back at the time of creation (for we humans). According to creationists, we are already in the 6000+ year of creation (or day 6).

In the very next paragraph, he says “…the latter-day Elijah prophets will proclaim this message prior to His second coming.” Once again, he is using popular phrases from NAR teachings. Revelation 14:6 makes it very clear that it is angels who will proclaim the gospel to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

So my summation of John Bevere’s book is that is it written by a false teacher. The false teachings are very subtle, and if you are not heavily into the Word, you will be deceived by them. I am sure there are many things that I missed in my study. However, what I did find, I share with you in hopes of opening your eyes to the truth.

I want to address one more thing here: There has been a move among many charismatic churches, where the people are seeking to have a “prophet” come to speak. People come from far away, seeking to hear a special “word” from these prophets. This is so dangerous! I want to look at a couple of scriptures that address this issue because they give such strong warnings.

Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have.” Jeremiah 29:8, NIV, emphasis added. – Many times, we encourage these “prophets” by buying their books and tapes, and there are even times when people will give a large offering to receive a “word” from the prophet.

A horrible and shocking thing has happened in this land – the prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. And worse yet, my people like it that way! Jeremiah 5:30-31, NLT, emphasis added.

There are so many books out there that are not biblically sound, yet people continue to buy them.  They like what is being taught because it tickles their itching ears.  We are a lazy church, refusing to search the Word for ourselves, trusting that it holds everything we need.

Exposing False Teachers

Exposing False Teachers
 
The Lord pulled me away from all books, except for my bible, for nearly four years.  During that time, I was intensely studying the Word of God.  Now He is leading me to read some books by those who are false teachers, making note of the scriptural errors I find, then posting it on my blog. Some of you may ask, “Why?” 
 
First, I carry such a huge burden for a church that is biblically illiterate.  However, it even goes beyond that, as you will see in the verses below.  Previously, as I have read these verses, I would think of abortion.  However, as I was reading it just a few days ago, I was thinking of it in context of those who are listening to false teachers.  I found it quite enlightening!
 
Proverbs 24:11-12 NLT
Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to death; don’t stand back and let them die.  Don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it.  For God knows all hearts, and he sees you.  He keeps watch over your soul, and he knows you knew!  And he will judge all people according to what they have done.
 
I looked up this same portion of scripture in a bible app that has footnotes for nearly every verse.  What an awesome confirmation from the Lord!  “This proverb calls for the rescue of people threatened by death.  This may refer to instructing people in life-saving wisdom or righteousness — helping others avoid the path that ultimately leads to death….”

What I see in this verse is a responsibility to share with others what the Lord is showing me. I used to read the books by all of the authors I am researching. I used to take their words as “gospel,” believing that all they were teaching was true. However, after learning to study as a Berean, and really searching out what authors, pastors, and teachers are writing, I am finding many errors in what I read. The above scripture makes it clear that I have a responsibility to expose error when I find it. And if all of the time, effort, and energy only helps one person, it is worth every bit of it!

Times Square Church

I have posted many videos from Times Square Church because I thought they were good, as well as biblically-sound.  However, I came across a video that I found quite disturbing.  It is worth the time to watch so that you are informed.  It’s 46 minutes long, but you will be able to scroll through some sections once he makes his main point.

As the Word says, bad company corrupts good character.  The man who did this video shows Carter Conlon (head pastor of Times Square Church), hanging out with some very questionable people.  He even went on a “Christian” TV show, promoting his latest book — making merchandise of the Word of God.

Watch and discern for yourself.

The Bait of Satan by John Bevere

A Review of The Bait of Satan by John Bevere

On page 76, he says, “Our knowledge of scripture is not the key. Obedience is.” You can’t know how to properly obey the Lord without a strong knowledge of the Word of God! THAT is where we learn HOW to obey the Lord!

On page 95, he says, “Keep seeking the Lord and listening to your heart. Don’t do or say things just because everyone else does. Seek Him and stand on what is illuminated in your heart.” This is not scriptural! Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts above all else, for out of it spring the issues of life. It doesn’t say to follow our heart. We are not to follow our heart. We are to follow the Word of God. Psalm 119:160 says the sum of God’s Word is truth. His Word is truth – not my heart!

While I agreed with a lot of what he says in this book, obviously, some of it was way off scripturally. He is also part of NAR (see below), and because of that, I do believe some of what he said in the book could lead one into being spiritually abused.

My copy of The Bait of Satan is from 1994.  However, there have been some updated versions of this book printed.  Because of that, there is a lot more information in the newer books.  This website does a much better job than I can at discussing some of the other errors in The Bait of Satan.  Book Review on The Bait of Satan

 
Here is a website that discusses more in depth the dangerous, and false, teachings of NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) is, and why we should avoid it.
The Six Hallmarks of a NAR Church
 
And finally, here is a website that gives much more information about John Bevere’s involvement with the NAR movement.
Leaving the NAR Church

If you read through the information above, you can see that John Bevere’s teachings are unscriptural and dangerous. The NAR teachings are very sneaky, and it is difficult to catch the error unless you are very familiar with their phraseology and methods. It took me months before I was able to catch NAR teaching by popular authors.

I will be reading another book soon by John Bevere called “Thus Saith the Lord?” and posting my thoughts on it.

If this information is new to you and you are shocked by it – I was also shocked. In my earlier years, I read a lot of his books. But like so many people in the church today – I was also not able to rightly divide the Word of truth, so a lot of this stuff snuck by me. I took his word as “gospel,” without searching it against the Word of God. If you are like I was, I want to encourage you to diligently read and study your bible. You won’t go wrong in studying the Word of God. It has everything you need to navigate through life’s good times and bad times.