by Ron Smith
December 9, 2018
I was raised in a Pentecostal denomination...the Church of God...with its Headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee.
I have seen it all...from the REAL to the ABSURD.
I have listened as PULPITS focused on the TRUTH of God's Word...and...I have grieved as out-of-context passages of Scripture were used as "proof texts" to support all manner of spiritual hype, mysticism, and fables.
As I spent YEARS traveling and ministering under the umbrella of the Church of God...whether at East Coast Bible College or at Lee University...I watched as transitions began to take place that grieved my spirit...and I began to realize over the years that God was allowing me to see all of these things for a specific reason.
I had begun my work in full-time ministry at the age of only 18...receiving a call from PTL inviting me to become a PTL Singer.
The year was 1983...and I had no desire to move to Fort Mill, South Carolina to work for Jim and Tammy Bakker.
But...God had other plans...plans that I would not fully comprehend for several more years.
I went to PTL...and my life was forever changed.
All that I witnessed was troubling...to say the least.
Yet...somehow...I knew it was all part of God's plan.
I returned to college...first going to East Coast Bible College in Charlotte....then transferring to Lee University (then Lee College) at the beginning of the Spring Semester of 1986.
Over half of all ministry I would be involved in focused on the YOUTH...traveling to churches, conferences, youth camps, "Camp Meetings," Winterfests, and various other ministry venues.
In all of this...I must be honest:
I witnessed an equal amount of REAL and FAKE.
I heard a great amount of TRUTH...but...I heard an equal amount of FALSE TEACHING.
I often struggled with the WHY of it all.
God would one day reveal His purpose...allowing me to know that my calling was to speak out about all that He had shown me...all that He had allowed me to see...all the FALSE DOCTRINE that spews forth from FALSE TEACHERS who always CLAIM they are doing the "work of the Lord"...yet they are TRULY just USING ministry to gain WEALTH and FAME.
But...something I noticed so long ago...even questioning it as far back as the 80's...seemed to go unnoticed by so many around me:
Everything that was BORN in HYPE never BIRTHED something HOLY.
What I am about to speak is TRUTH...and I am a first-hand WITNESS to what I am speaking:
---I watched as EMOTION began to win the day...and RESULTS were announced based on those MOMENTS.
With no actual PROOF that God saved ANYONE...instead of waiting on the FRUIT to appear which would stand as PROOF of TRANSFORMATION...PULPITS almost ALWAYS made claims that simply could not be SUBSTANTIATED.
In truth...no MAN can declare ANOTHER man to be SAVED.
Often...what appears to be GENUINE is as COUNTERFEIT as a $3 bill.
---I watched as THOUSANDS of teenagers would be called to an altar...then...reports would be made that said "Thousands flooded the altars tonight!"
Disingenuous?
Yes.
How often I watched PULPITS almost BEG for EVERYONE to gather around those praying...and then watched PICTURES and VIDEOS being taken...making a VISUAL claim...and often a VERBAL claim...that this CROWD had come down as a RESPONSE to the SERMON and SUBJECT MATTER of the ALTAR CALL.
Sadly...PULPITS most often LOVE to INFLATE their STATISTICS.
And to this day...I believe it is WRONG to tout ANY claims of SALVATION as may occur during a service...as our INABILITY to see a person's HEART makes it IMPOSSIBLE to CONFIRM a CONVERSION has actually taken PLACE.
---I watched as what I call "Spiritual Peer Pressure" was the order of the day.
We in the Church hate to admit it...but PEER PRESSURE can work both ways...and when we gather a group of teenagers together in a "Christian atmosphere"...there does exist a PRESSURE to CONFORM.
Going to the altar often becomes "the right thing to do"...and FEW teenagers want to be a part of the "minority."
Thus...GENUINE conversion...GENUINE devotion to Christ...is often an ILLUSION.
---I watched as teenagers who were "on fire for God" at the end of Winterfest soon went home and LOST that fire...as the reality of LIFE soon sank in.
You see...it was EASY to be "spiritual" when the CROWD is "spiritual"...but it is MUCH harder to be a true Christian in a SECULAR setting...be it WORK or SCHOOL.
Today...many call it "Group Think"...but no one realizes that only INDIVIDUALS can be saved...not GROUPS.
---I watched as we attempted to BIRTH holiness in HYPE settings...falsely believing that we could INSPIRE and MOTIVATE the teens in such settings...only to send them back into the world filled with more HYPE than TRUTH.
As much as I hate to say it...SELDOM did I hear TRUTH taught...as the order of the day was the presentation of MOTIVATIONAL sermonettes based on EXPERIENCE more than actual SCRIPTURE.
Honestly...there were MANY...and I mean MANY "inspiring testimonies" that told the teenagers "You can become anything you want to be with God on your side!"...but...I cannot remember even ONE such service that placed SCRIPTURE above PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.
I do not say any of this in a derogatory way...I only want to be TRUTHFUL...HONEST.
I LOVED my time ministering to the youth...but I found that DAILY ministry FAR outweighed those moments of MASS ministry...and the DANGER of Winterfest and the like was only realized BACK HOME...
...when the music had faded...when the lights were no longer flashing...when the focus was not almost SOLELY placed on "the youth of the church."
Often...it was the Winterfest mentality that actually brought DIVISION to the Church...as I began to witness a generation of youth who were constantly being told they were the "now generation"...as PULPITS began to declare to the young people that some of the "older generation" would just "never understand" these NEWER "moves of God."
Most often...and to this day...this declaration was made along side a GROSSLY out-of-context presentation of the prophecy found in Joel 2.
I was recently sent several videos from the ministry of Perry Stone...with each referencing "the coming revival as promised in Joel 2!"
Yet...what Perry Stone and others IGNORE is the fact that Joel 2 began its fulfillment approximately 2000 years ago...and we are NOT now "awaiting its fulfillment."
I sincerely cannot believe ANY Pastor...ANY minister...ANY Christian could be SO Biblically illiterate that they do not KNOW that the PROPHECY of Joel 2 was FULFILLED in Acts 2!
Peter CLEARLY declared it to be TRUE!
Deny it if you wish...but THIS passage is CLEAR:
Acts 2:14-18 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
With that...the TRUE meaning of Joel 2...and Acts 2...can be known:
Joel was prophesying of a day when the Gospel would be taken to ALL the world...and the gift of SALVATION would be made known to ALL mankind...through the POWER of the Holy Spirit.
Joel 2 is NOT about the coming of TONGUES...but it is about the POWER of SALVATION and the GIFT of the Holy Spirit...as He would now INDWELL every believer.
Today...just as I now see in the ministry of Perry Stone...there are PULPITS that so seek to STIMULATE the CROWD...to STIR the people into a FRENZY with an almost constant PRIMING and PUMPING of the CROWD...ESPECIALLY the YOUTH...that I am AMAZED so few seem to even notice this phenomenon.
It has even become the NORM in services where the YOUTH lead worship...as it honestly seems as if some enter into a drug-induced set of spiritual calisthenics:
---Youth who seem unable to remain still...rocking backward and forward...forward and backward...side to side...as if MOVEMENT equals "anointing"
---Fists pumping...as if that shows sincerity and intensity...as if THAT is some sign "The Holy Ghost is here!"
---Songs that have little focus on being in AWE of a Holy God...but instead focus on what God does for US...what we GAIN through Him...our "destiny" to be "champions"...and let's not forget the constant cry for the "fire to fall"
And...with each theatrical example...the PULPIT declares:
"God is moving in and on our youth! Look how they cry out to God!"
EMOTIONAL "worship" NEVER denotes "God is moving in and on our youth!"
What WILL denote such a "move of God?"
Changed lives...not just for a week...not just for a month...not just for a year...but for a LIFETIME.
Yet...NUMEROUS studies show us that the PERCENTAGE of "young people" who CLAIM to get "saved" never EQUALS the number who ACTUALLY get saved.
In fact...studies show very FEW teenagers EVER get saved...and the PERCENTAGE of those who DO truly REPENT and continue on to be TRUE disciples of Christ is DREADFULLY low...EVEN among those "raised in Church."
And...if a person does NOT get SAVED before they leave their TEENAGE years...less than 10% of people EVER get saved.
Why? Howm
As studies now show that fewer and fewer young people make it out of a "Youth Group" as a TRUE Christian...MOST of those who walk away UNSAVED admit that the HYPE of it all was unable to be SUSTAINED...and BURN OUT eventually took place.
When your "salvation" is EMOTION-based instead of WORD-based...the HYPE can NEVER be ENOUGH to SUSTAIN your "Christian walk!"
I am now 54+ years of age...and I can no longer do MANY of the things I could do in my YOUTH.
TIME will ALWAYS diminish us in some way...and no "declaration" from the PULPIT can stop it.
In the same way...the time comes for ALL of us...a time when HYPE just won't do...and the ability to even SUSTAIN that HYPE is no longer available.
It is THEN that reality sets in...and we are left with only ONE thing:
The DOCTRINES of TRUTH on which our lives are ESTABLISHED.
For many...there will be no FOUNDATION available...because the PAST was built on HYPE...and the HYPE was more important than the Word.
Sadly...few ever discover this reality in their YOUTH...as the PULPITS "in charge" virtually IGNORE the TRUTH of God's Word...at least as it exists in its proper context.
Where can I leave this...allowing those reading here to comprehend the URGENCY of this message?
Well...let me try ending here:
Notice...God never said "Be energetic and loud and emotional and enthusiastic and HYPED...and KNOW that I Am God."
Many today are SO busy speaking to God..."decreeing" and "declaring"...and so many today are feverishly rocking and fist pumping and dwelling in the HYPE of the moment that they fail to STOP and LISTEN to God.
The truth?
Satan most often uses HYPE to drown out the VOICE of the Lord.
Maybe it is time the HYPE ends...and true HOLINESS begins.
Start here:
Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Forgotten Word Ministries
...
is a non-denominational Christ based ministry which is dedicated to
spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world and to
exposing the error in the teachings of many of the false teachers who
have invaded our churches. Founded by Reverend Robert Wise under
the calling from God and after many years of studying the
different denominations and preachers who have gotten away from the
true Word of God and have allowed man's selfish wants and wishes to
dominate their organizations and local churches. It is our belief
that the Bible is not being preached in today's pulpits.
Preachers have turned from the true Word of God and have made a
concerted effort to turn our churches and pulpits into a self centered
based belief system. Churches have become mini country clubs without
golf courses. Pleasing the pew sitters is what is being preached
instead of pleasing the Lord. Our goal is to be an avenue to share the
Gospel with anyone who wishes to hear it like it was intended to be
told. Forgotten Word Ministries website has materials that are
designed to help you to understand the Word of God, identify false
teachings which are designed to help you along your Christian walk.
Message from the Founder About the Founder
Forgotten
Word Ministries was brought to life by directive of the Holy
Spirit to promote the true Word of God through His Holy
Scriptures. We DO NOT hate any of the people we have listed on our site, in fact we love them all but we disagree with their teachings. Our intention is to show you how some preachers are using the Word of God for personal gain or are
just plain misled themselves, thereby
misleading others who follow them and their teachings. We do
everything we can to discuss these matters with those involved but the
majority refuse to discuss anything with us or with very few
others. We do pray that these persons who are either purposely
misleading for personal gain or are misled themselves will see the
Lord's Word for what it is, not what they wish it to be.
God Bless You,
Pastor Wise
Concerns:
This website will divide it's attention between Proper Bible teachings and pointing out the false prophets and the false preachers that have risen in great numbers in the church these last 35 or so years.
False
preachers are leading thousands if not millions of people in the
wrong direction and causing them to follow a Jesus that is not the
Jesus of the Bible. False preachers are getting rich off of the
flock and that is certainly something that needs to be attended to.
There
is a section of who these false preachers are and sad to say, the
list continues to grow. As heartbreaking as it is to me and
you, imagine how heartbreaking it is for the Lord.
