Counterfeit Revival Part 3

 Continued from Part 2... http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1491181/Counterfeit_Revival_Part_2

3. The Coming Counterfeit Revival is Clarified

 

The coming counterfeit revival is not only prophesied and classified; it is also clarified in God’s Word. The elements of the counterfeit revival are clarified in God’s Word. The problem – a counterfeit gospel and counterfeit preachers; the product – counterfeit Christians; the procedure – counterfeit revival; and the purpose – the righteous judgment of God are all clearly addressed in the Bible.

           

First, the problem of the counterfeit revival is clarified all throughout Scripture. The root of the problem is Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light and produces both a counterfeit gospel and counterfeit preachers to preach it.

 

In producing a counterfeit revival, Satan offers Jesus but he offers another Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible – “For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached…” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Many are willing to accept the Jesus that Satan offers but are unwilling to accept the Jesus that God offers. Satan offers a Jesus that will be your Savior and allow you to be your own Lord. Satan offers a Jesus that will allow you to be saved and hold on to your love of self, love of money, and love of pleasure. Satan offers a Jesus that exists for your happiness. Satan offers a counterfeit Jesus who appeals to many, many people because they want to keep their sin and still be saved – and Satan’s Jesus will allow you to do just that.

          

In producing a counterfeit revival, Satan offers a different spirit, not the Holy Spirit of the Bible – “or you receive a different spirit” (2 Corinthians 11:4). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth so Satan’s counterfeit will seem to be the Spirit of Truth but instead will actually be the spirit of error. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world…They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:1, 5-6). Satan’s counterfeits will use worldly wisdom but not the wisdom of the Word. This spirit quotes verses and preaches Scripture but out of context and with improper interpretation and application – all of which sounds like and appears to be biblical but is actually lies disguised as truth.

          

In producing a counterfeit revival, Satan offers a different gospel, not the gospel of the Bible – “For if one comes and preaches…a different gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4). In the coming counterfeit revival a false gospel of philosophical humanism will be embraced as the true gospel. This false gospel which in essence will declare the worth and value of man, will focus on man’s happiness and not his holiness. The fundamentals of the gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) will be used to declare to men and women how special they are instead of declaring how special the Lord is for dying for the ungodly. God’s love will be used to glorify man instead of its glorifying Him and His goodness and greatness. The grace of God will then have been turned into licentiousness. The glory of God in the face of Christ will be veiled to the minds of unbelievers because this false gospel will reveal man’s glory and not the Lord’s glory. Many will not realize that the true gospel is God-centered and not man-centered. Many will not realize that the true gospel reveals God’s glory and thereby reveals and magnifies man’s depravity – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Satan’s counterfeit gospel is the wide-gate that leads to destruction.

          

With a counterfeit Jesus and a counterfeit Holy Spirit and a counterfeit gospel, all Satan needs is counterfeit preachers. In producing a counterfeit revival, Satan offers counterfeit preachers – “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). This is why the Bible is replete with warnings of false prophets and false teachers. In these last days there are more false prophets and false teachers than there are true ones. God said through Amos, “Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12). Many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

          

There’s the problem of the counterfeit revival – another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel, and false prophets and teachers to spread these destructive heresies. But there is also the productof the counterfeit revival – counterfeit Christians. These are the tares among the wheat, the children of the devil among the children of God. The entire book of 1 John; the book that was written so that we may know for sure that we have eternal life; was written as a contrast between the children of God and the children of the devil. The product of the counterfeit revival, counterfeit Christians, are expressly mentioned in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. There they are characterized as lovers of self, lovers of money and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. These are church members of the last days that make ministry difficult. These are people who claim to be saved and converted and yet they are still lovers of self, money, and pleasure rather than lovers of God. These counterfeit Christians have bought into the counterfeit gospel that is man-centered instead of God-centered.

          

According to 2 Timothy 4:3-4, these counterfeit Christians will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away (apostasize) their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. You can clearly see that in the last days these will control the churches and bring in their men – men who will tickle their ears. Counterfeit Christians are the product of a counterfeit revival which will bring about the apostasy that must come first, before the coming of the Lord.

          

The Bible not only clarifies the problem and the product of the counterfeit revival, it also clarifies the procedure of the counterfeit revival. The counterfeit revival, the apostasy, must come first, before we are gathered together to the Lord – “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him…Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3). This is the same truth that Jesus taught in the parable of the tares – “Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matthew 13:30). The procedure of gathering up the tares and binding them into bundles speaks of the apostasy, the counterfeit revival that precedes the Lord’s return and the rapture. How is this procedure accomplished? How are the tares, the counterfeit Christians gathered up and bundled up? The answer is simple: through false prophets and false teachers and ultimately through the false Christ – the Antichrist! This will be the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). That’s the procedure of the counterfeit revival.

          

We have seen the problem, the product and the procedure of the counterfeit revival and that brings us to a very important theological question: What is the purpose of the counterfeit revival?

         

The counterfeit revival is a just and judicial judgment of God on all who will not believe the truth but takes pleasure in wickedness – “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). This is the same truth expressed by Jesus when He gave His purpose for speaking in parables – “To you (who have received the truth) it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (who have rejected the truth) it has not been granted” (Matthew 13:11).

 

People who would dare fashion Christ into their own liking and not receive the truth revealed about Him in the Scriptures are sure to fall for Satan’s counterfeit and be judged by God. And rightly so – they have rejected God’s truth about Jesus and themselves and have in essence called God a liar. By examining the coming counterfeit revival we actually get to glimpse the wisdom and glory of God who is not mocked. There is coming a great divide between the true church and the counterfeit church and it will happen when the counterfeit revival gathers up and bundles up the counterfeit Christians – and millions will think it is a real revival! And then – the rapture! God will have used the devil to clean up His church and Jesus will come and get His bride in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; and she will be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:27). What a mighty God we serve!

          

Have you understood and received the love of the truth that Jesus the sinless died for you the sinner in order that he might sanctify you and that you might love Him as your supreme treasure? The gospel tells us how worthy He is and how unworthy we are – and yet He died for us while we were yet sinners! Has that truth revealed to you His glory and broken your heart over your wretchedness to the point that you are willing to see yourself as dead with Christ on the cross and buried with Christ in the tomb so that you can be raised up to walk in newness of life under His Lordship – with Him taking control of you and living His life through you to the glory of God? Can you honestly say, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20)? Receive the Jesus of the Bible and love Him – not the one that Satan offers and is after your own making and liking. Therefore take heed that the thing spoken of in the Bible will not come upon you!

Jul. 3, 2009 at 11:31 PM

Anonymous (Original Poster)